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The   Benefactress 


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The  Benefactress 


BY   THE   AUTHOR   OF 
"ELIZABETH   AND   HER   GERMAN    GARDEN'* 


Wan  bcbarf  hex  Seitung 
Unb  bcr  mannlic^en  33eglettung. 

WiLHELM  BUSCH. 


Weto  gork 
THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON  :  MACiMlLLAN  &  CO.,   Ltd. 
I916 
AJI  rigbtt  reserved 


Copyright,  1901, 
Bv  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  September,  1901.  Reprinted  twice, 
October, November,  December,  1901;  October,  1902;  January, 
1907  ;  November,  1910 ;  March,  1916. 


J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  k  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


The   Benefactress 


360418 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/benefactressOOelizrich 


THE   BENEFACTRESS 


CHAPTER   I 

When  Anna  Estcourt  was  twenty-five,  and  had 
begun  to  wonder  whether  the  pleasure  extractable 
from  life  at  all  counterbalanced  the  bother  of  it,  a 
wonderful  thing  happened. 

She  was  an  exceedingly  pretty  girl,  who  ought 
to  have  been  enjoying  herself.  She  had  a  soft, 
irregular  face,  charming  eyes,  dimples,  a  pleasant 
laugh,  and  limbs  that  were  long  and  slender.  Cer- 
tainly she  ought  to  have  been  enjoying  herself. 
Instead,  she  wasted  her  time  in  that  foolish  ponder- 
ing over  the  puzzles  of  existence,  over  those  un- 
answerable whys  and  wherefores,  which  is  as  a 
rule  restricted,  among  women,  to  the  elderly  and 
plain.  Many  and  various  are  the  motives  that 
impel  a  woman  so  to  ponder ;  in  Anna's  case  the 
motive  was  nothing  more  exalted  than  the  per- 
petual presence  of  a  sister-in-law.  The  sister-in- 
law  was  rich  —  in  itself  a  pleasing  circumstance ; 
but  the  sister-in-law  was  also  frank,  and  her  hus- 
band and  Anna  were  entirely  dependent  on  her, 
and  her  richness  and  her  frankness  combined 
urged  her  to  make  fatiguingly  frequent  allusions 
to  the  Estcourt  poverty.  Except  for  their  bad 
taste  her  husband  did  not  mind  these  allusions 


2  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

much,  for  he  considered  that  he  had  given  her  a 
full  equivalent  for  her  money  in  bestowing  his 
name  on  a  person  who  had  practically  none :  he 
was  Sir  Peter  Estcourt  of  the  Devonshire  Est- 
courts,  and  she  was  a  Dobbs  of  Birmingham. 
Besides,  he  was  a  philosopher,  and  philosophers 
never  mind  anything.  But  Anna  was  in  a  less 
agreeable  situation.  She  was  not  a  philosopher, 
she  was  thin-skinned,  she  had  bestowed  nothing 
and  was  taking  everything,  and  she  was  of  an 
independent  nature ;  and  an  independent  nature, 
where  there  is  no  money,  is  a  great  nuisance  to 
its  possessor. 

When  she  was  younger  and  more  high-flown 
she  sometimes  talked  of  sweeping  crossings ;  but 
her  sister-in-law  Susie  would  not  hear  of  crossings, 
and  dressed  her  beautifully,  and  took  her  out,  and 
made  her  dance  and  dine  and  do  as  other  girls 
did,  being  of  opinion  that  a  rich  husband  of  good 
position  was  more  satisfactory  than  crossings,  and 
far  more  likely  to  make  some  return  for  all  the 
expenses  she  had  had. 

At  eighteen  Anna  was  so  pretty  that  the  per- 
fect husband  seemed  to  be  a  mere  question  of 
days.  What  could  the  most  desirable  of  men, 
thought  Susie,  considering  her,  want  more  than 
so  bewitching  a  young  creature  ?  But  he  did  not 
come,  somehow,  that  man  of  Susie's  dreams ;  and 
after  a  year  or  two,  when  Anna  began  to  under- 
stand what  all  this  dressing  and  dancing  really 
meant,  and  after  she  had  had  offers  from  people 
she  did  not  like,  and  had  herself  fallen  in  love 
with  a  youth  of  no  means  who  was  prudent 
enough  to  marry  somebody  else  with  money,  she 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  3 

shrank  back  and  grew  colder,  and  objected  more 
and  more  decidedly  to  Susie's  strenuous  private 
matrimonial  urgings,  and  sometimes  made  remarks 
of  a  cynical  nature  to  her  admirers,  who  took  fright 
at  such  symptoms  of  advancing  age,  and  fell  off 
considerably  in  numbers. 

It  was  at  this  period,  when  she  was  barely 
twenty-two,  that  she  spoke  of  crossings.  Susie 
had  seriously  reproved  her  for  not  meeting  the 
advances  of  an  old  and  rich  and  single  person 
with  more  enthusiasm,  and  hacf  at  the  same  time 
alluded  to  the  number  of  pounds  she  had  spent 
on  her  every  year  for  the  last  three  years,  and  the 
necessity  for  putting  an  end,  by  marrying,  to  all 
this  outlay ;  and  instead  of  being  sensible,  and 
talking  things  over  quietly,  Anna  had  poured  out 
a  flood  of  foolish  sentiments  about  the  misery  of 
knowing  that  she  was  expected  to  be  nice  to  every 
man  with  money,  the  intolerableness  of  the  life 
she  was  leading,  and  the  superior  attractions 
of]  crossing-sweeping  as  a  means  of  earning  a 
livelihood. 

"  Why,  you  haven't  enough  money  for  the 
broom,"  said  Susie  impatiently.  "  You  can't 
sweep  without  a  broom,  you  know.  I  wish  you 
were  a  little  less  silly,  Anna,  and  a  little  more 
grateful.  Most  girls  would  jump  at  the  splendid 
opportunity  you've  got  now  of  marrying,  and  tak- 
ing up  a  position  of  your  own.  You  talk  a  great 
deal  of  stuff  about  being  independent,  and  when 
you  get  the  chance,  and  I  do  all  I  can  to  help  you, 
you  fly  into  a  passion  and  want  to  sweep  a  cross- 
ing. Really,"  added  Susie,  twitching  her  shoulder, 
"  you  might  remember  that  it  isn't  all  roses  for  me 


4  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

either,  trying   to  get  some  one  else's  daughter 
married." 

"  Of  course  it  isn't  all  roses,"  said  Anna,  lean- 
ing against  the  mantelpiece  and  looking  down  at 
her  with  perplexed  eyebrows.  "  I  am  very  sorry 
for  you.  I  wish  you  weren't  so  anxious  to  get  rid 
of  me.  I  wish  I  could  do  something  to  help  you. 
But  you  know,  Susie,  you  haven't  taught  me  a 
trade.  I  can't  set  up  on  my  own  account  unless 
you'll  give  me  a  last  present  of  a  broom,  and  let 
me  try  my  luck  at  the  nearest  crossing.  The  one 
at  the  end  of  the  street  is  badly  kept.  What  do 
you  think  if  I  started  there  ? "  What  answer 
could  anyone  make  to  such  folly? 

By  the  time  she  was  twenty-four,  nearly  all  the 
girls  who  had  come  out  when  she  did  were  mar- 
ried, and  she  felt  as  though  she  were  a  ghost 
haunting  the  ball-rooms  of  a  younger  generation. 
Disliking  this  feeling,  she  stiffened,  and  became 
more  and  more  unapproachable ;  and  it  was  at 
this  period  that  she  invented  excuses  for  missing 
most  of  the  functions  to  which  she  was  invited, 
and  began  to  affect  a  simplicity  of  dress  and  hair 
arrangement  that  was  severe.  Susie's  exaspera- 
tion was  now  at  its  height.  "  I  don't  know  why 
you  should  be  bent  on  making  the  worst  of  your- 
self," she  said  angrily,  when  Anna  absolutely 
refused  to  alter  her  hair. 

"  I'm  tired  of  being  frivolous,"  said  Anna. 
"  Have  you  an  idea  how  long  those  waves  took 
to  do  ?  And  you  know  how  Hilton  talks.  It  all 
gets  whisked  up  now  in  two  minutes,  and  I'm 
spared  her  conversation." 

"  But  you  are  quite  plain,"  cried  Susie.      "  You 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  5 

are  not  like  the  same  girl.  The  only  thing  your 
best  friend  could  say  about  you  now  is  that  you 
look  clean." 

"  Well,  I  like  to'  look  clean,"  said  Anna,  and 
continued  to  go  about  the  world  with  hair  tucked 
neatly  behind  her  ears ;  her  immediate  reward 
being  an  offer  from  a  clergyman  within  the  next 
fortnight. 

Peter  Estcourt  was  even  more  surprised  than 
his  wife  that  Anna  had  not  made  a  good  match 
years  before.  Of  course  she  had  no  money,  but 
she  was  a  pretty  girl  of  good  family,  and  it  ought 
to  be  easy  enough  for  her  to  find  a  husband.  He 
wished  heartily  that  she  might  soon  be  happily 
married ;  for  he  loved  her,  and  knew  that  she  and 
Susie  could  never,  with  their  best  endeavours,  be 
great  friends.  Besides,  every  woman  ought  to 
have  a  home  of  her  own,  and  a  husband  and 
children.  Whenever  he  thought  of  Anna,  he 
thought  exactly  this ;  and  when  he  had  reached 
the  proposition  at  the  end  he  felt  that  he  could 
do  no  more,  and  began  to  think  of  something 
else. 

His  marriage  with  Susie,  a  person  of  whom  no 
one  had  ever  heard,  had  brought  out  and  developed 
stores  of  unsuspected  philosophy  in  him.  Before 
that  he  was  quite  poor,  and  very  merry ;  but  he 
loved  Estcourt,  and  could  not  bear  to  see  it  falling 
into  ruin,  and  he  loved  his  small  sister,  who  was 
then  only  ten,  and  wished  to  give  her  a  decent 
education,  and  what  is  a  man  to  do  ?  There  hap- 
pened to  be  no  rich  American  girls  about  at  that 
time,  so  he  married  Miss  Dobbs  of  Birmingham, 
and  became  a  philosopher. 


6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

It  was  hard  on  Susie  that  he  should  become  a 
philosopher  at  her  expense.  She  did  not  like  phi- 
losophers. She  did  not  understand  their  silent 
ways,  and  their  evenness  of  temper.  After  she  had 
done  all  that  Peter  wanted  in  regard  to  the  place 
in  Devonshire,  and  had  provided  Anna  with  every 
luxury  in  the  shape  of  governesses,  and  presented 
her  husband  with  an  heir  to  the  retrieved  family 
fortunes,  she  thought  that  she  had  a  right  to  some 
enjoyment  too,  to  some  gratification  from  her  posi- 
tion, and  was  surprised  to  find  how  little  was  forth- 
coming. Really  no  one  could  do  more  than  she 
had  done,  and  yet  nothing  was  done  for  her. 
Peter  fished,  and  read,  and  was  with  difficulty 
removable  from  Estcourt.  Anna  was,  of  course, 
too  young  to  be  grateful,  but  there  she  was,  tak- 
ing everything  as  a  matter  of  course,  her  very 
unconsciousness  an  irritation.  Susie  wanted  to 
get  on  in  the  world,  and  nobody  helped  her.  She 
wanted  to  bury  the  Dobbs  part  of  herself,  and 
develop  the  Estcourt  part ;  but  the  Dobbs  part 
was  natural,  and  the  Estcourt  superficial,  and  the 
Dobbses  were  one  and  all  singularly  unattractive 
—  a  race  of  eager,  restless,  wiry  little  men  and 
women,  anxious  to  get  as  much  as  they  could,  and 
keep  it  as  long  as  they  could,  a  family  succeeding  in 
gathering  a  good  deal  of  money  together  in  one 
place,  and  failing  entirely  in  the  art  of  making 
friends.  Susie  was  the  best  of  them,  and  had 
been  the  pretty  one  at  home ;  yet  she  was  not  in 
the  least  a  success  in  London.  She  put  it  down 
to  Peter's  indifference,  to  his  slowness  in  introduc- 
ing her  to  his  friends.  It  was  no  more  Peter's 
fault  than  it  was  her  own.     It  was  not  her  fault 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  7 

that  she  was  not  pretty  —  there  never  had  been  a 
beautiful  Dobbs  —  and  it  was  not  her  fault  that 
she  was  so  unfortunately  frank,  and  never  could 
and  never  did  conceal  her  feverish  eagerness  to 
make  desirable  acquaintances,  and  to  get  into  de- 
sirable sets.  Until  Anna  came  out  she  was  in- 
vited only  to  the  big  functions  to  which  the  whole 
world  went;  and  the  hours  she  passed  at  them 
were  not  among  the  most  blissful  of  her  life.  The 
people  who  were  at  first  inclined  to  be  kind  to  her 
for  Peter's  sake,  dropped  off  when  they  found  how 
her  eagerness  to  attract  the  attention  of  some  one 
mightier  made  her  unable  to  fix  her  thoughts  on 
the  friendly  remarks  that  they  were  taking  pains  to 
make.  In  society  she  was  absent-minded,  fidgety, 
obviously  on  the  look-out  for  a  chance  of  drawing 
the  biggest  fish  into  her  little  net ;  but,  wealthy 
as  she  was,  she  was  not  wealthy  enough  in  an 
age  of  millionnaires,  and  not  once  during  the  whole 
of  her  career  was  a  big  fish  simple  enough  to  be 
caught. 

After  a  time  her  natural  shrewdness  and  com- 
mon sense  made  her  perceive  that  her  one  claim 
to  the  scanty  attentions  she  did  receive  was  her 
money.  Her  money  had  bought  her  Peter,  and 
a  pleasant  future  for  her  children;  it  had  con- 
verted a  Dobbs  into  an  Estcourt ;  it  had  given  her 
everything  she  had  that  was  worth  anything  at 
all.  Once  she  had  thoroughly  realised  this,  she 
began  to  attach  a  tremendous  importance  to  the 
mere  possession  of  money,  and  grew  very  stingy, 
making  difficulties  about  spending  that  grieved 
Peter  greatly;  not  because  he  ever  wanted  her 
money  now  that  Estcourt  had  been  restored  to 


8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

its  old  splendour  and  set  going  again  for  their  boy, 
but  because  meanness  about  money  in  a  woman  was 
something  he  could  not  comprehend  —  something 
repulsive,  unfeminine,  contrary  to  her  nature  as 
he  had  always  understood  it.  He  left  off  making 
the  least  suggestion  about  Anna's  education  or 
the  household  arrangements ;  everything  that  was 
done  was  done  of  Susie's  own  accord;  and  he 
spent  more  and  more  time  in  Devonshire,  and 
grew  more  and  more  philosophical,  and  when  he 
did  talk  to  his  wife,  restricted  his  conversation  to 
the  language  of  abstract  wisdom. 

Now  this  was  very  hard  on  Susie,  who  had  no 
appreciation  of  abstract  wisdom,  and  who  lived 
as  lonely  a  life  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  Peter 
kept  out  of  her  way.  Anna  was  subject  to  pro- 
longed fits  of  chilly  silence.  Susie  used,  at  such 
times,  to  think  regretfully  of  the  cheerful  Dobbs 
days,  of  their  frank  and  congenial  vulgarity. 

When  Anna  was  eighteen,  Susie's  prospects 
brightened  for  a  time.  Doors  that  had  been  shut 
ever  since  she  married,  opened  before  her  on  her 
appearing  with  such  a  pretty  debuta^ite  under  her 
wing,  and  she  could,  enjoy  the  reflected  glory  of 
Anna's  little  triumphs.  And  then,  without  any 
apparent  reason,  Anna  had  altered  so  strangely, 
and  had  disappointed  every  one's  expectations; 
never  encouraging  the  right  man,  never  ready  to 
do  as  she  was  told,  exasperatingly  careless  on  all 
matters  of  vital  importance,  and  ending  by  show- 
ing symptoms  of  freezing  into  something  of  the 
same  philosophical  state  as  Peter.  Their  mother 
had  been  German  —  a  lady-in-waiting  to  one  of 
the  German  princesses ;  and  their  father  had  met 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  9 

her  and  married  her  while  he  was  secretary  at  the 
English  Embassy  in  St.  Petersburg.  And  Susie, 
who  had  heard  of  German  philosophy  and  Ger- 
man stolidity,  and  despised  them  both  with  all  her 
heart,  concluded  that  the  German  strain  was  ac- 
countable for  everything  about  Peter  and  Anna 
that  was  beyond  her  comprehension ;  and  some- 
times, when  Peter  was  more  than  usually  wise  and 
unapproachable,  would  call  him  Herr  Schopen- 
hauer—  which  had  an  immediate  effect  of  pro- 
ducing a  silence  that  lasted  for  weeks ;  for  not 
only  did  he  like  her  least  when  she  was  playful, 
but  he  had,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  read  a  great  deal 
of  Schopenhauer,  and  was  uneasily  conscious  that 
it  had  not  been  good  for  him. 

While  Peter  fished,  and  meditated  on  the  van- 
ity of  human  wishes  at  Estcourt,  Anna,  with  rare 
exceptions,  was  wherever  Susie  was,  and  Susie 
was  wherever  it  was  fashionable  to  be.  For  a 
week  or  two  in  the  summer,  for  a  day  or  two 
at  Easter,  they  went  down  to  Devonshire ;  and 
Anna  might  wander  about  the  old  house  and 
grounds  as  she  chose,  and  feel  how  much  better 
she  had  loved  it  in  its  tumble-down  state,  the  state 
she  had  known  as  a  child,  when  her  mother  lived 
there  and  was  happy.  Everything  was  aggres- 
sively spruce  now,  indoors  and  out.  Susie's 
money  and  Susie's  taste  had  rubbed  off  all  the 
mellowness  and  all  the  romance.  Anna  was  glad 
to  leave  it  again,  and  be  taken  to  Marienbad,  or 
any  place  where  there  was  royalty,  for  Susie  loved 
royalty.  But  what  a  life  it  was,  going  round  year 
after  year  with  Susie!  London,  Devonshire, 
Marienbad,    Scotland,    London    again,  following 


lo  '  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

with  patient  feet  wherever  the  unconscious  royal* 
ties  led,  meeting  the  same  people,  listening  to  the 
same  music,  talking  the  same  talk,  eating  the 
same  dinners — would  no  one  ever  invent  anything 
new  to  eat  ?  The  inexpressible  boredom  of  rid- 
ing up  and  down  the  Row  every  morning,  the 
unutterable  hours  shopping  and  trying  on  clothes, 
the  weariness  of  all  the  new  pictures,  and  all  the 
concerts,  and  all  the  operas,  which  seemed  to  grow 
less  pleasing  every  year,  as  her  eye  and  ear  grew 
more  critical.  She  knew  at  last  every  note  of  the 
stock  operas  and  concerts,  and  every  note  seemed 
to  have  got  on  to  her  nerves. 

And  then  the  people  they  knew  —  the  everlast- 
ing sameness  of  them,  content  to  go  the  same  dull 
round  for  ever.  Driving  in  the  Park  with  Susie, 
neither  of  them  speaking  a  word,  she  used  to 
watch  the  faces  in  the  other  carriages,  nearly  all 
faces  of  acquaintances,  to  see  whether  any  of  them 
looked  cheerful;  and  it  was  the  rarest  thing  to 
come  across  any  expression  but  one  of  blankest 
boredom.  Bored  and  cross,  hardly  ever  speak- 
ing to  the  person  with  them,  their  friends  drove 
up  and  down  every  afternoon,  and  she  and  Susie 
did  the  same,  as  silent  and  as  bored  as  any  of 
them.  A  few  unusually  beautiful,  or  unusually 
witty,  or  unusually  young  persons  appeared  to 
find  life  pleasant  and  looked  happy,  but  they 
avoided  Susie.  Her  set  was  made  up  of  the  dull 
and  plain  ;  and  all  the  amusing  people,  and  all  the 
interesting  people,  turned  their  backs  with  one 
accord  on  her  and  it. 

These  were  the  circumstances  that  drove 
Anna  to  reflect  on  the  problems  of  life  every  time 
she  was  beyond  the  sound  of  Susie's  voice. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  ii 

She  passionately  resented  her  position  of  de- 
pendence on  Susie,  and  she  passionately  resented 
the  fact  that  the  only  way  to  get  out  of  it  was  to 
marry.  Every  time  she  had  an  offer,  she  first  of 
all  refused  it  with  an  energy  that  astonished  the 
unhappy  suitor,  and  then  spent  days  and  nights 
of  agony  because  she  had  refused  it,  and  because 
Susie  wanted  her  to  accept  it,  and  because  of  an 
immense  pity  for  Susie  that  had  taken  possession 
of  her  heart.  How  could  Peter  live  so  placidly 
at  Susie's  expense,  and  treat  her  with  such  a  com- 
plete want  of  tenderness.^  Anna's  love  for  her 
brother  diminished  considerably  directly  she  be- 
gan to  understand  Susie's  life.  It  was  such  a 
pitiful  little  life  of  cringing,  and  pushing,  and 
heroically  smiling  in  the  face  of  ill-treatment. 
No  one  cared  for  her  in  the  very  least.  She 
had  hundreds  of  acquaintances,  who  would  eat 
her  dinners  and  go  away  and  poke  fun  at  her, 
but  not  a  single  friend.  Her  husband  lived  on 
her  and  hardly  spoke  to  her.  Her  boy  at  Eton, 
an  amazing  prig,  looked  down  on  her.  Her  little 
daughter  never  dreamed  of  obeying  her.  Anna 
herself  was  prevented  by  some  stubborn  spirit  of 
fastidiousness,  evidently  not  possessed  by  any  of 
her  contemporaries,  from  doing  the  only  thing 
Susie  had  ever  really  wanted  her  to  do  —  marry- 
ing, and  getting  herself  out  of  the  way.  What  if 
Susie  were  a  vulgar  little  woman  of  no  education 
and  no  family  ?  That  did  not  make  it  any  the 
more  glorious  for  the  Estcourts  to  take  all  they 
could  and  ignore  her  existence.  It  was,  after  all, 
Susie  who  paid  the  bills.  Anna  pitied  her  from 
the    bottom   of   her   heart;  such  a  forlorn    little 


j2  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

woman,  taken  out  of  her  proper  sphere,  and  left 
to  shiver  all  alone,  without  a  shred  of  love  to  cover 
and  comfort  her. 

It  was  when  she  was  away  from  Susie  that  she 
felt  this.  When  she  was  with  her,  she  found  herself 
as  cold  and  quiet  and  contradictory  as  Peter.  She 
used,  whenever  she  got  the  chance,  to  go  to  after- 
noon service  at  St.  Paul's.  It  was  the  only  place 
and  time  in  which  all  the  bad  part  of  her  was 
soothed  into  quiet,  and  the  good  allowed  to  pre- 
vail in  peace.  The  privacy  of  the  great  place, 
where  she  never  met  anyone  she  knew,  the 
beauty  of  the  music,  the  stateliness  of  the  service 
offered  every  day  in  equal  perfection  to  any 
poor  wretch  choosing  to  turn  his  back  for  an  hour 
on  the  perplexities  of  life,  all  helped  to  hush  her 
grievances  to  sleep  and  fill  her  heart  with  tender- 
ness for  those  who  were  not  happy,  and  for  those 
who  did  not  know  they  were  unhappy,  and  for 
those  who  wasted  their  one  precious  life  in  being 
wretched  when  they  might  have  been  happy. 
How  little  it  would  need,  she  thought  (for  she 
was  young  and  imaginative),  to  turn  most  peo- 
ple's worries  and  sadness  into  joy.  Such  a  httle 
difference  in  Susie's  ways  and  ideas  would  make 
them  all  so  happy;  such  a  little  change  in  Peter's 
habits  would  make  his  wife's  life  radiant.  But 
they  all  lived  blindly  on,  each  day  a  day  of  empti- 
ness, each  of  those  precious  days,  so  crowded  with 
opportunities,  and  possibilities,  and  unheeded  bless- 
ings, and  presently  life  would  be  behind  them,  and 
their  chances  gone  for  ever. 

"  The  world  is  a  dreadful  place,  full  of  unhappy 
people,"  she  thought,  looking  out  on  to  the  world 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  13 

with  unhappy  eyes.  "  Each  one  by  himself,  with 
no  one  to  comfort  him.  Each  one  with  more 
than  he  can  bear,  and  no  one  to  help  him.  Oh, 
if  I  could,  I  would  help  and  comfort  everyone 
that  is  sad,  or  sick  at  heart,  or  sorry  —  oh,  if  I 
could ! " 

And  she  dreamed  of  all  that  she  would  do  if 
she  w^ere  Susie  —  rich,  and  free  from  any  sort  of 
interference  —  to  help  others,  less  fortunate,  to  be 
happy  too.  But,  since  she  was  the  very  reverse  of 
rich  and  free,  she  shook  off  these  dreams,  and 
made  numbers  of  good  resolutions  instead  — 
resolutions  bearing  chiefly  on  her  future  behaviour 
towards  Susie.  And  she  would  come  out  of  the 
church  filled  w^ith  the  sternest  resolves  to  be  ever 
afterwards  kind  and  loving  to  her ;  and  the  very 
first  words  Susie  uttered  would  either  irritate  her 
into  speeches  that  made  her  sorry,  or  freeze  her 
back  into  her  ordinary  state  of  cold  aloofness. 

If  Susie  had  had  an  idea  that  Anna  was  pity- 
ing her,  and  making  good  resolutions  of  which 
she  was  the  object  at  afternoon  services,  and 
that  in  her  eyes  she  had  come  to  be  merely  a 
cross  which  must  with  heroism  be  borne,  she  prob- 
ably would  have  been  indignant.  Pitying  people 
and  being  pitied  oneself  are  two  very  different 
things.  The  first  is  soothing  and  sweet,  the  sec- 
ond is  annoying,  or  even  maddening,  according 
to  the  temperament  of  the  patient.  Susie,  how- 
ever, never  suspected  that  anyone  could  be  sorry 
for  her ;  and  when,  after  a  party,  before  they  went 
to  bed,  Anna  would  put  her  arms  round  her  and 
give  her  a  disproportionately  tender  kiss,  she 
would  show  her  surprise  openly.     "  Why,  what's 


14  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  matter  ? "  she  would  ask.  "  Another  mood, 
Anna  ? "  For  she  could  not  know  how  much 
Anna  felt  the  snubs  she  had  seen  her  receive. 
How  should  she  ?  She  was  so  used  to  them  that 
she  hardly  noticed  them  herself. 

It  was  when  Anna  was  twenty-five,  and  much 
vexed  in  body  by  efforts  to  be  and  to  do  as  Susie 
wished,  and  in  soul  by  those  unanswerable  ques- 
tions as  to  the  why  and  wherefore  of  the  aimless, 
useless  existence  she  was  leading,  that  the  wonder- 
ful thing  happened  that  changed  her  whole  life. 


CHAPTER    II 

There  was  a  German  relation  of  Anna's,  her 
mother's  brother,  known  to  Susie  as  Uncle  Joa- 
chim. He  had  been  twice  to  England ;  once  dur- 
ing his  sister's  life,  when  Anna  was  little,  and 
Peter  was  unmarried,  and  they  were  all  poor  and 
happy  together  at  Estcourt ;  and  once  after  Susie's 
introduction  into  the  family,  just  at  that  period 
when  Anna  was  beginning  to  stiffen  and  put  her 
hair  behind  her  ears. 

Susie  knew  all  about  him,  having  inquired  with 
her  usual  frankness  on  first  hearing  of  his  existence 
whether  he  would  be  likely  to  leave  Anna  anything 
on  his  death ;  and  upon  being  informed  that  he  had 
a  family  of  sons,  and  large  estates  and  little  money, 
looked  upon  it  as  a  great  hardship  to  be  obliged  to 
have  him  in  her  London  house.  She  objected  to 
all  Germans,  and  thought  this  particular  one  a 
dreadful  old  man,  and  never  wearied  of  making 
humorous  comments  on  his  clothes  and  the  odd- 
ness  of  his  manners  at  meals.  She  was  vexed  that 
he  should  be  with  them  in  Hill  Street,  and  refused 
to  give  dinners  while  he  was  there.  She  also  asked 
him  several  times  if  he  w^ould  not  enjoy  a  stay  at 
Estcourt,  and  said  that  the  country  was  now  at  its 
best,  and  the  primroses  were  in  full  beauty. 

"  I  want  not  primroses,"  said  Uncle  Joachim, 
who  seldom  spoke  at  length  ;  "  I  live  in  the  coun- 
try.    I  will  now  see  London." 

15 


i6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

So  he  went  about  diligently  to  all  the  museums 
and  picture-galleries,  sometimes  alone  and  some- 
times with  Anna,  who  neglected  her  social  duties 
more  than  ever  in  order  to  be  with  him,  for  she 
loved  him. 

They  talked  together  chiefly  in  German,  Uncle 
Joachim  carefully  correcting  her  mistakes ;  and 
while  they  went  frugally  in  omnibuses  to  the  dif- 
ferent sights,  and  ate  buns  in  confectioners'  shops 
at  lunch-time,  and  walked  long  distances  where 
no  omnibuses  were  to  be  found  —  for  besides  hav- 
ing a  great  fear  of  hansoms  he  was  very  thrifty  — 
he  drew  her  out,  saying  little  himself,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  knew  almost  as  much  about  her  life  and 
her  perplexities  as  she  did. 

She  was  very  happy  during  his  visit,  and  told 
herself  contentedly  that  blood,  after  all,  was  thicker 
than  water.  She  did  not  stop  to  consider  what 
she  meant  exactly  by  this,  but  she  had  a  vague 
notion  that  Susie  was  the  water.  She  felt  that 
Uncle  Joachim  understood  her  better  than  any- 
one had  yet  done  ;  and  was  it  not  natural  that  her 
dear  mother's  brother  should  ?  And  it  was  only 
after  she  had  taken  him  to  service  at  St.  Paul's  that 
she  began  to  perceive  that  there  might  perhaps  be 
points  on  which  their  tastes  differed.  Uncle  Joa- 
chim had  remained  seated  while  other  people  knelt 
or  stood;  but  that  did  not  matter  in  that  liberal 
place,  where  nobody  notices  the  degree  of  his  neigh- 
bour's devoutness.  And  he  had  slept  during  the 
anthem,  one  of  those  unaccompanied  anthems  that 
are  sung  there  with  what  seem  of  a  certainty  to  be 
the  voices  of  angels.  And  on  coming  out,  when  a 
fugue  was  rolling  in  glorious  confusion  down  the 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  17 

echoing  aisles,  and  Anna,  who  preferred  her  fugues 
confused,  felt  that  her  spirit  was  being  caught  up 
to  heaven,  he  had  looked  at  her  rapt  face  and  wet 
eyelashes,  and  patted  her  hand  very  kindly,  and  said 
encouragingly,  "  In  my  youth  I  too  cultivated  Bach. 
Now  I  cultivate  pigs.     Pigs  are  better." 

Anna's  mother  had  been  his  only  sister,  and  he 
had  come  over,  not,  as  he  told  Susie,  to  see  Lon- 
don, but  to  see  Susie  herself,  and  to  find  out  how 
it  was  that  Anna  had  reached  an  age  that  in  Ger- 
many is  the  age  of  old  maids  without  marrying. 
By  the  time  he  had  spent  two  evenings  in  Hill 
Street  he  had  formed  his  opinion  of  his  nephew 
and  his  nephew's  wife,  and  they  remained  fixed 
until  his  death.  "  The  good  Peter,"  he  said  sud- 
denly one  day  to  Anna  when  they  were  wandering 
together  in  the  maze  at  Hampton  Court  —  for  he 
faithfully  went  the  rounds  of  sightseeing  prescribed 
by  Baedeker,  and  Anna  followed  him  wherever  he 
went  —  "  the  good  Peter  is  but  a  QuatschkopfP 

"  A  Qtiatschkopf? "  echoed  Anna,  whose  ac- 
quaintance with  her  mother-tongue  did  not  extend 
to  the  byways  of  opprobrium.  "  What  in  the  world 
is  a  Qtiatschkopf?  " 

"  Qtiatschkopf  \^  a  Duselfritz''  explained  Uncle 
Joachim, "  and  also  it  is  the  good  Peter." 

"  I  believe  you  are  calling  him  ugly  names,"  said 
Anna,  slipping  her  arm  through  his  ;  by  this  time, 
if  not  kindred  spirits,  they  were  the  best  of  friends. 

Uncle  Joachim  did  not  immediately  reply.  They 
had  come  to  the  open  space  in  the  middle  of  the 
maze,  and  he  sat  down  on  the  seat  to  recover  his 
breath,  and  to  wipe  his  forehead ;  for  though  the 
wind  was  cold  the  sun  was  fierce.    "  Gott,  was  man 


i8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

A  lies  durchmacht  auf  Reisen  !  "  he  sighed.  Then 
he  put  his  handkerchief  back  into  his  pocket,  looked 
up  at  Anna,  who  was  standing  in  front  of  him  lean- 
ing on  her  sunshade,  and  said,  "  A  Quatsckkopfis  a 
foolish  fellow  who  marries  a  woman  like  that." 

"  Oh,  poor  Susie  !  "  cried  Anna,  at  once  ready  to 
defend  her,  and  full  of  the  kindly  feelings  absence 
invariably  produced.  "  Peter  did  a  very  sensible 
thing.    But  I  don't  think  Susie  did,  marrying  Peter." 

"  He  is  a  Quatschkopf^'  said  Uncle  Joachim, 
not  to  be  shaken  in  his  opinions,  "  and  the  geborene^ 
Dobbs  is  a  vulgar  woman  who  is  not  rich  enough." 

"  Not  rich  enough  ?  Why,  we  are  all  suffocated 
by  her  money.  We  never  hear  of  anything  else. 
It  would  be  dreadful  if  she  had  still  more." 

"  Not  rich  enough,"  persisted  Uncle  Joachim, 
pursing  up  his  lips  into  an  expression  of  great  dis- 
approval, and  shaking  his  head.  "  Such  a  woman 
should  be  a  millionnaire.  Not  of  marks,  but  of 
pounds  sterling.  Short  of  that,  a  man  of  birth 
does  not  impose  her  as  a  mother  on  his  children. 
Peter  has  done  it.     He  is  a  Quatschkop/r 

"  It  is  a  great  mercy  that  she  isn't  a  million- 
naire," said  Anna,  appalled  by  the  mere  thought. 
"Things  would  be  just  the  same,  except  that 
there  would  be  all  that  money  more  to  hear  about. 
I  hate  the  very  name  of  money." 

"  Nonsense.     Money  is  very  good." 

"  But  not  somebody  else's." 

"  That  is  true,"  said  Uncle  Joachim  approvingly. 
''  One's  own  is  the  only  money  that  is  truly  pleas- 
ant." Then  he  added  suddenly,  "Tell  me,  how 
comes  it  that  you  are  not  married  ?  " 

Anna  frowned.  "  Now  you  are  growing  like 
Susie,"  she  said. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  19 

"  Ack  —  she  asks  you  that  often  ?  " 

"  Yes  —  no,  not  quite  like  that.  She  says  she 
knows  why  I  am  not  married." 

"  And  what  knows  she  ?  " 

"  She  says  that  I  frighten  everybody  away," 
said  Anna,  digging  the  point  of  her  sunshade  into 
the  ground.  Then  she  looked  at  Uncle  Joachim, 
and  laughed. 

"  What .?  "  he  said  incredulously.  This  pretty 
creature  standing  before  him,  so  soft  and  young  — 
for  that  she  was  twenty-four  was  hardly  credible  — 
could  not  by  any  possibility  be  anything  but  lovable. 

"  She  says  that  I  am  disagreeable  to  people  — 
that  I  look  cross  —  that  I  don't  encourage  them 
enough.  Now  isn't  it  simply  terrible  to  be  expected 
to  encourage  any  wretched  man  who  has  money  ? 
I  don't  want  anybody  to  marry  me.  I  don't  want 
to  buy  my  independence  that  way.  Besides,  it 
isn't  really  independence." 

"  For  a  woman  it  is  the  one  life,"  said  Uncle 
Joachim  with  great  decision.  "  Talk  not  to  me 
of  independence.  Such  words  are  not  for  the  lips 
of  girls.  It  is  a  woman's  pride  to  lean  on  a  good 
husband.  It  is  her  happiness  to  be  shielded  and 
protected  by  him.  Outside  the  narrow  circle  of 
her  home,  for  her  happiness  is  not.  The  woman 
who  never  marries  has  missed  all  things." 

"  I  don't  believe  it,"  said  Anna. 

"  It  is  nevertheless  true." 

"  Look  at  Susie  —  is  she  so  happy  ?  " 

"  I  said  a  good  husband  ;  not  a  Duselfritzr 

"  And  as  for  narrow  circles,  why,  how  happy, 
how  gloriously  happy,  I  could  be  outside  them,  if 
only  I  were  independent !  " 


20  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"Independent  —  independent,"  repeated  Uncle 
Joachim  testily,  "always  this  same  foolish  word. 
What  hast  thou  in  thy  head,  child,  thy  pretty 
woman's  head,  made,  if  ever  head  was,  to  lean  on 
a  good  man's  shoulder  ?  " 

"  Oh  —  good  men's  shoulders,"  said  Anna, shrug- 
ging her  own,  "  I  don't  want  to  lean  on  anybody's 
shoulder.  I  want  to  hold  my  head  up  straight,  all 
by  itself.  Do  you  then  admire  limp  women,  dear 
uncle,  whose  heads  roll  about  all  loose  till  a  good 
man  comes  along  and  props  them  up  ?  " 

"  These  are  English  ideas.  I  like  them  not," 
said  Uncle  Joachim,  looking  stony. 

Anna  sat  down  on  the  seat  by  his  side,  and  laid 
her  cheek  for  a  moment  against  his  sleeve.  "  This 
is  the  only  good  man's  shoulder  it  will  ever  lean 
on,"  she  said.  "  If  I  were  a  preacher,  do  you  know 
what  I  would  preach  ?  " 

"  Thou  art  not,  and  never  wilt  be,  a  preacher." 

"  But  if  I  were  ?  Do  you  know  what  I  would 
preach  .f*    Early  and  late  ?    In  season  and  out  of  it. f^" 

"  Much  nonsense,  I  doubt  not." 

"  I  would  preach  independence.  Only  that.  Al- 
ways that.  They  would  be  sermons  for  women 
only ;  and  they  would  be  warnings  against  props." 

She  sat  up  and  looked  at  him  out  of  the  corners 
of  her  eyes,  but  he  continued  to  stare  stonily  into 
space. 

"  I  would  thump  the  cushions,  and  cry  out,  '  Be 
independent,  independent,  independent !  Don't 
talk  so  much,  and  do  more.  Go  your  own  way, 
and  let  your  neighbour  go  his.  Don't  meddle  with 
other  people  when  you  have  all  your  own  work 
cut  out  for  you  being  good  yourself.  Shake  off 
all  the  props '  " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  21 

"  Anna,  thou  art  talking  folly." 

"  '  —  shake  them  off,  the  props  tradition  and  au- 
thority offer  you,  and  go  alone  —  crawl,  stumble, 
stagger,  but  go  alone.  You  won't  learn  to  walk 
without  tumbles,  and  knocks,  and  bruises,  but  you'll 
never  learn  to  walk  at  all  so  long  as  there  are  props.' 
Oh,"  she  said  fervently,  casting  up  her  eyes,  "there 
is  nothing,  nothing  like  getting  rid  of  one's  props  !  " 

"  I  never  yet,"  observed  Uncle  Joachim,  in  his 
turn  casting  up  his  eyes,  "  saw  a  girl  w^ho  so  greatly 
needs  the  guidance  of  agood  man.  Hast  thou  never 
loved,  then  ?  "  he  added,  turning  on  her  suddenly. 

"Yes,"  replied  Anna  promptly.  If  Uncle 
Joachim  chose  to  ask  such  direct  questions  she 
would  give  him  straight  answers. 

"But .?" 

"  He  went  away  and  married  somebody  eise. 
I  had  no  money,  and  she  had  a  great  deal.  So  you 
see  he  was  a  very  sensible  young  man."  And  she 
laughed,  for  she  had  long  ago  ceased  to  be  anything 
but  amused  by  the  remembrance  of  her  one  excur- 
sion into  the  rocky  regions  of  love. 

"That,"  said  Uncle  Joachim,  "  was  not  true  love." 

"  Oh,  but  it  was." 

"  Nay.     One  does  not  laugh  at  love." 

"  It  was  all  I  had,  anyhow^  There  isn't  any  more 
left.  It  was  very  bad  while  it  lasted,  and  it  took  at 
least  two  years  to  get  over  it.  What  things  I  did 
to  please  that  young  man  and  appear  lovely  in  his 
eyes!  The  hours  it  took  to  dress,  and  get  my  hair 
done  just  right.  I  endured  tortures  if  I  didn't 
look  as  beautiful  as  I  thought  I  could  look,  and 
was  always  giving  my  poor  maid  notice.  And 
plots  —  the  way  I  plotted  to  get  taken  to  the  places 


22  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

where  he  would  be !  I  never  was  so  artful  before 
or  since.  Poor  Susie  was  quite  helpless.  It  is  a 
mercy  it  all  ended  as  it  did." 

"  That,"  repeated  Uncle  Joachim,  "  was  not  true 
love." 

"  Yes,  it  was." 

"No,  my  child." 

"  Yes,  my  uncle.  I  laugh  now,  but  it  was  very 
dreadful  at  the  time." 

"  Thou  art  but  a  goose,"  he  said,  shrugging  his 
shoulders  ;  but  immediately  patted  her  hand  lest 
her  feelings  should  have  been  hurt.  And,  declin- 
ing further  argument,  he  demanded  to  be  taken  to 
the  Great  Vine. 

It  was  in  this  fashion,  Anna  talking  and  Uncle 
Joachim  making  brief  comments,  that  he  came  to 
know  her  as  thoroughly  as  though  he  had  lived 
with  her  all  his  life. 

Soon  after  the  excursion  to  Hampton  Court  a 
letter  came  that  hurried  his  departure,  to  Susie's 
ill-concealed  relief. 

"  My  swines  are  ill,"  he  informed  her,  greatly 
agitated,  his  fragile  English  going  altogether  to 
pieces  in  his  perturbation  ;  "  my  inspector  writes 
they  perpetually  die.  God  keep  thee,  Anna,"  and 
he  embraced  her  very  tenderly,  and  bending 
hastily  over  Susie's  hand  muttered  some  conven- 
tionalities, and  then  disappeared  into  his  four- 
wheeler  and  out  of  their  lives. 

They  never  saw  him  again. 

*'  My  swines  are  ill,"  mimicked  Susie,  when  Anna, 
feeling  that  she  had  lost  her  one  friend,  came  slowly 
back  into  the  room,  "  my  swines  perpetually  die — " 

Anna  was  obliged  to  go  and  pray  very  hard  at 
St.  Paul's  before  she  could  forgive  her. 


CHAPTER    III 

The  old  man  died  at  Christmas,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing March,  when  Anna  was  going  about  more 
sad  and  listless  than  ever,  the  news  came  that, 
though  his  inherited  estates  had  gone  to  his  sons, 
he  had  bought  a  little  place  some  years  before  with 
the  intention  of  retiring  to  it  in  his  extreme  old 
age,  and  this  little  place  he  had  left  to  his  dear 
and  only  niece  Anna. 

She  was  alone  when  the  letters  bringing  the  news 
arrived,  sitting  in  the  drawing-room  with  a  book  in 
her  hands  at  which  she  did  not  look,  feeling  utterly 
downcast,  indifferent,  too  hopeless  to  want  anything 
or  mind  anything,  accepting  her  destiny  of  years 
of  days  like  this,  with  herself  going  through  them 
lonely,  useless,  and  always  older,  and  telling  herself 
that  she  did  not  after  all  care.  "  What  does  it 
matter,  so  long  as  I  have  a  comfortable  bed,  and  fires 
when  I  am  cold,  and  meals  when  I  am  hungry?" 
she  thought.  "  Not  to  have  those  is  the  only  real 
misery.  All  the  rest  is  purest  fancy.  What  right 
have  I  to  be  happier  than  other  people  ?  If  they  are 
contented  by  such  things,  I  can  be  contented  too. 
And  what  does  a  useless  being  like  me  deserv^e,  I 
should  like  to  know  ?  It  was  detestably  ungrateful 
of  me  to  have  been  unhappy  all  this  time." 

She  got  up  aimlessly,  and  looked  out  of  the  win- 
dow into  the  sunny  street,  where  the  dust  was  racing 
by  on  the  gusty  March  wind,  and  the  women  sell- 

23 


24  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ing  daffodils  at  the  corner  were  more  battered  and 
blown  about  and  red-eyed  than  ever.  She  had  often, 
in  those  moments  when  her  whole  body  tingled  with 
a  wild  longing  to  be  up  and  doing  and  justifying 
her  existence  before  it  was  too  late,  envied  these 
poor  women,  because  they  worked.  She  wondered 
vaguely  now  at  her  folly.  "  It  is  much  better  to 
be  comfortable,"  she  thought,  going  back  to  the  fire 
as  aimlessly  as  she  had  gone  to  the  window,  "  and 
it  is  sheer  idiocy  quarrelling  with  a  life  that  other 
people  would  think  quite  tolerable." 

Then  the  door  opened,  and  the  letters  were 
brought  in — the  wonderful  letters  that  struck  the 
whole  world  into  radiance  —  lying  together  with 
bills  and  ordinary  notes  on  a  salver,  carried  by  an 
indifferent  servant,  handed  to  her  as  though  they 
were  things  of  naught  —  the  wonderful  letters  that 
changed  her  life. 

At  first  she  did  not  understand  what  it  was  that 
they  meant,  and  pored  over  the  cramped  German 
writing,  reading  the  long  sentences  over  and  over 
again,  till  something  suddenly  seemed  to  clutch  at 
her  heart.  Was  this  possible  ?  Was  this  actual 
truth  ?  Was  Uncle  Joachim,  who  had  so  much 
objected  to  her  longing  for  independence,  giving 
it  to  her  with  both  hands,  and  every  blessing  along 
with  it  ?  She  read  them  through  again,  very  care- 
fully, holding  them  with  shaking  hands.  Yes,  it 
was  true.  She  began  to  cry,  sobbing  over  them 
for  very  love  and  tenderness,  her  whole  being 
melted  into  gratitude  and  humbleness,  awestruck 
by  a  sense  of  how  little  she  had  deserved  it,  dazzled 
by  the  thousand  lovely  colours  life,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  had  taken  on. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  25 

There  were  two  letters  —  one  from  Uncle 
Joachim's  lawyer,  and  one  from  Uncle  Joachim 
himself,  written  soon  after  his  return  from  Eng- 
land, with  directions  on  the  envelope  that  it  was 
to  be  sent  to  Anna  after  his  death. 

Uncle  Joachim  was  not  a  man  to  express  senti- 
ment otherwise  than  by  patting  those  he  loved  affec- 
tionately on  the  back,  and  the  letter  over  which  Anna 
hung  with  such  tender  gratitude,  and  such  an  ex- 
travagance of  humility,  was  a  mere  bald  statement  of 
facts.  Since  Anna,  with  a  perversity  that  he  entirely 
disapproved,  refused  to  marry,  and  appeared  to  be 
possessed  of  the  obstinacy  that  had  always  been  a 
peculiarity  of  her  German  forefathers,  and  which 
was  well  enough  in  a  man,  but  undesirable  in  a 
woman,  whose  calling  it  was  to  be  gentle  and  yield- 
ing (sanft  unci 7iachgiebig),  and  convinced  from  what 
he  had  seen  during  his  visit  to  London  that  she 
could  never  by  any  possibility  be  happy  with  her 
brother  and  sister-in-law,  and  moreover  considering 
that  it  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  his  sister's 
daughter,  a  young  lady  of  good  family,  for  ever  to 
roll  herself  in  the  feathers  with  which  the  middle- 
class  goose-born  Dobbshad  furnished  Peter's  other- 
wise defective  nest,  he  had  decided  to  make  her 
independent  altogether  of  them,  numerous  though 
his  own  sons  were,  and  angry  as  they  no  doubt 
would  be,  by  bestowing  on  her  absolutely  after  his 
death  the  only  property  he  could  leave  to  whomso- 
ever he  chose,  a  small  estate  near  Stralsund,  where 
he  hoped  to  pass  his  last  years.  It  was  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition,  easy  to  manage,  bringing  in  a  yearly 
average  of  forty  thousand  marks,  and  with  an  ex- 
perienced   inspector   whom   he  earnestly   recom- 


26  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

mended  her  to  keep.  He  trusted  his  dear  Anna 
would  go  and  Hve  there,  and  keep  it  up  to  its  present 
state  of  excellence,  and  would  finally  marry  a  good 
German  gentleman,  of  whom  there  were  many,  and 
return  in  this  way  altogether  to  the  country  of  her 
forefathers.  The  estate  was  not  so  far  from  Stral- 
sund  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  her  to  drive  there 
when  she  wished  to  indulge  any  feminine  desire 
she  might  have  to  trim  herself  (sich  putze7i\  and 
he  recommended  her  to  begin  a  new  life,  settling 
there  with  some  grave  and  sober  female  advanced 
in  years  as  companion  and  protectress,  until  such 
time  as  she  should,  by  marriage,  pass  into  the  care 
of  that  natural  protector,  her  husband. 

Then  followed  a  short  exposition  of  his  views  on 
women,  especially  those  women  who  go  to  parties 
all  their  lives  and  talk  Klatsch  ;  a  spirited  compar- 
ing of  such  women  with  those  whose  interests  keep 
them  busy  in  their  own  homes  ;  and  a  final  exhor- 
tation to  Anna  to  seize  this  opportunity  of  choos- 
ing the  better  life,  which  was  always,  he  said,  a 
life  of  simplicity,  frugality,  and  hard  work. 

Anna  wept  and  laughed  together  over  this  letter 
—  the  tenderest  laughter  and  the  happiest  tears. 
It  seemed  by  turns  the  wildest  improbability  that 
she  should  be  well  off,  and  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world.  Susie  was  out.  Never  had  her  ab- 
sence been  terrible  before.  Anna  could  hardly  bear 
the  waiting.  She  walked  up  and  down  the  room, 
for  sitting  still  was  impossible,  holding  the  precious 
letters  tight  in  her  little  cold  hands,  her  cheeks 
burning,  her  eyes  sparkling,  in  an  agony  of  impa- 
tience and  anxiety  lest  something  should  have  hap- 
pened to  delay  Susie  at  this  supreme  moment.   At 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  27 

the  window  end  of  the  room  she  stopped  each  time 
she  reached  it  and  looked  eagerly  up  and  down  the 
street,  the  flower-women  and  the  blessedness  of 
selling  daffodils  having  within  an  hour  become  pro- 
foundly indifferent  to  her.  At  the  other  end  of  the 
room,  where  a  bureau  stood,  she  came  to  a  stand- 
still too,  and  snatching  up  a  pen  began  a  letter  to 
Peter  in  Devonshire  ;  but,  hearing  wheels,  threw  it 
down  and  flew  to  the  window  again.  It  was  not 
Susie's  carriage,  and  she  went  back  to  the  letter  and 
wrote  another  line;  then  again  to  the  window;  then 
again  to  the  letter ;  and  it  was  the  letter's  turn  as 
Susie,  fagged  from  a  round  of  calls,  came  in. 

Susie's  afternoon  had  not  been  a  success.  She 
had  made  advances  to  a  woman  of  enviably  high 
position  with  the  intrepidity  that  characterised  all 
her  social  movements,  and  she  had  been  snubbed 
for  her  pains  with  more  than  usual  rudeness.  She 
had  had,  besides,  several  minor  annoyances.  And 
to  come  in  worn  out,  and  have  your  sister-in-law, 
who  would  hardly  speak  to  you  at  luncheon,  fall 
on  your  neck  and  begin  violently  to  kiss  you,  is 
really  a  little  hard  on  a  woman  who  is  already 
cross. 

"  Now  what  in  the  name  of  fortune  is  the  matter 
now  ? "  gasped  Susie,  breathlessly  disengaging  her- 
self. 

"Oh,  Susie!  oh,  Susie!"  cried  Anna  incohe- 
rently, "  what  ages  you  have  been  away —  and  the 
letters  came  directly  you  had  gone  —  and  I've  been 
watching  for  you  ever  since,  and  was  so  dreadfully 
afraid  something  had  happened " 

"  But  what  are  you  talking  about,  Anna  }  "  in- 
terrupted  Susie   irritably.      It  was  late,  and  she 


28  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

wanted  to  rest  for  a  few  minutes  before  dressing 
to  go  out  again,  and  here  was  Anna  in  a  new  mood 
of  a  violent  nature,  and  she  was  weary  beyond 
measure  of  all  Anna's  moods. 

"  Oh,  such  a  wonderful  thing  has  happened ! " 
cried  Anna;  "such  a  wonderful  thing!   What  will 

Peter  say?    And  how  glad  you  will  be "    And 

she  thrust  the  letters  with  trembling  fingers  into 
Susie's  unresponsive  hand. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  said  Susie,  looking  at  them 
bewildered. 

"Oh,  no — I  forgot,"  said  Anna,  wildly  as  it 
seemed  to  Susie,  pulling  them  out  of  her  hand 

again.  "You  can't  read  German — see  here " 

And  she  began  to  unfold  them  and  smooth  out  the 
creases  she  had  made,  her  hands  shaking  visibly. 

Susie  stared.  Clearly  something  extraordinary 
had  happened,  for  the  frosty  Anna  of  the  last  few 
months  had  melted  into  a  radiance  of  emotion  that 
would  only  not  be  ridiculous  if  it  turned  out  to  be 
justified. 

"  Two  German  letters,"  said  Anna,  sitting  down 
on  the  nearest  chair,  spreading  them  out  on  her  lap, 
and  talking  as  though  she  could  hardly  get  the  words 
out  fast  enough,  "  one  from  Uncle  Joachim " 

"  Uncle  Joachim  ?  "  repeated  Susie,  a  disagree- 
able and  creepy  doubt  as  to  Anna's  sanity  coming 
over  her.  "  You  know  very  well  he's  dead  and 
can't  write  letters,"  she  said  severely. 

"  —  and  one  from  his  lawyer,"  Anna  went  on, 
regardless  of  everything  but  what  she  had  to  tell. 
"  The  lawyer's  letter  is  full  of  technical  words,  dif- 
ficult to  understand,  but  it  is  only  to  confirm  what 
Uncle  Joachim  says,  and  his  is  quite  plain.     He 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  29 

wrote  it  some  time  before  he  died,  and  left  it  with 
his  lawyer  to  send  on  to  me." 

Susie  was  listening  now  with  all  her  ears.  Law- 
yers, deceased  uncles,  and  Anna's  sparkling  face 
could  only  have  one  meaning. 

"  Uncle  Joachim  was  our  mother's  only 
brother " 

"  I  know,  I  know,"  interrupted  Susie  impatiently. 

"  —  and  was  the  dearest  and  kindest  of  uncles 
to  me " 

"  Never  mind  what  he  was,"  interrupted  Susie 
still  more  impatiently.  "  What  has  he  done  for 
you  ?  Tell  me  that.  You  always  pretended,  both 
of  you  —  Peter  too  —  that  he  had  miles  of  sandy 
places  somewhere  in  the  desert,  and  dozens  of 
boys.     What  could  he  do  for  you  ?  " 

"  Do  for  me  ?  "  Anna  rose  up  with  a  solemnity 
worthy  of  the  great  news  about  to  be  imparted,  put 
both  her  hands  on  Susie's  little  shoulders,  and 
looking  down  at  her  with  shining  eyes,  said  slowly, 
*'  He  has  left  me  an  estate  bringing  in  forty  thou- 
sand marks  a  year." 

"  Forty  thousand !  "  echoed  Susie,  completely 
awestruck. 

"  Marks,"  said  Anna. 

"  Oh,  marks,"  said  Susie,  chilled.  *'  That's  francs, 
isn't  it  ?     I  really  thought  for  a  moment " 

"  They're  more  than  francs.  It  brings  in,  on  an 
average,  two  thousand  pounds  a  year.  Two  — 
thousand  — pounds  —  a  —  year,"  repeated  Anna, 
nodding  her  head  at  each  word.  "  Now,  Susie, 
what  do  you  think  of  that  ?  " 

"  What  do  I  think  of  it  ?  Why,  that  it  isn't  much. 
Where  would  you  all  have  been,  I  wonder,  if  I  had 
only  had  two  thousand  a  year.f^ " 


30  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Oh,  congratulate  me !  "  cried  Anna,  opening 
her  arms.  "  Kiss  me,  and  tell  me  you  are  glad ! 
Don't  you  see  that  I  am  off  your  hands  at  last  ? 
That  we  need  never  think  about  husbands  again  ? 
That  you  will  never  have  to  buy  me  any  more 
clothes,  and  never  tire  your  poor  little  self  out  any 
more  trotting  me  round  ?  I  don't  know  which  of 
us  is  to  be  congratulated  most,"  she  added  laughing, 
looking  at  Susie  with  her  eyes  full  of  tears.  Then 
she  insisted  on  kissing  her  again,  and  murmured 
foolish  things  in  her  ear  about  being  so  sorry  for 
all  her  horrid  ways,  and  so  grateful  to  her,  and  so 
determined  now  to  be  good  for  ever  and  ever. 

"  My  dear  Anna,"  remonstrated  Susie,  who  dis- 
liked sentiment  and  never  knew  how  to  respond  to 
exhibitions  of  feeling.  "  Of  course  I  congratulate 
you.  It  almost  seems  as  if  throwing  away  one's 
chances  in  the  way  you  have  done  was  the  right 
thing  to  do,  and  is  being  rewarded.  Don't  let  us 
waste  time.  You  know  we  go  out  to  dinner.  What 
has  he  left  Peter }  " 

"  Peter  t  "  said  Anna  wonderingly. 

"  Yes,  Peter.  He  was  his  nephew,  I  suppose, 
just  as  much  as  you  were  his  niece." 

"Well,  but  Susie,  Peter  is  different.  He  —  he 
doesn't  need  money  as  I  do;  and  of  course  Uncle 
Joachim  knew  that." 

"  Nonsense.  He  hasn't  got  a  penny.  Let  me 
look  at  the  letters." 

"  They're  in  German.  You  won't  be  able  to  read 
them." 

"  Give  them  to  me.  I  learned  German  at  school, 
and  got  a  prize.  You're  not  the  only  person  in 
the  world  who  can  do  things." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  31 

She  took  them  out  of  Anna's  hand,  and  began 
slowly  and  painfully  to  read  the  one  from  Uncle 
Joachim,  determined  to  see  whether  there  really 
was  no  mention  of  Peter.  Anna  looked  on, 
hot  and  cold  by  turns  with  fright  lest  by  some 
chance  her  early  studies  should  not  after  all  have 
been  quite  forgotten. 

"  Here's  something  about  Peter — and  me,"  Susie 
said  suddenly.  "  At  least,  I  suppose  he  means  me. 
It  is  something  Dobbs.  Why  does  he  call  me 
that?      It  hasn't  been  my  name  for  fifteen  years." 

"  Oh,  it's  some  silly  German  way.  He  says  the 
gebore7ie  Dobbs,  to  distinguish  you  from  other 
Lady  Estcourts." 

"  But  there  are  no  others." 

"  Oh,  well,  his  sister  was  one.  Give  me  the 
letter,  Susie  —  I  can  tell  you  what  he  says  much 
more  quickly  than  you  can  read  it." 

"  '  Unter  der  Wurde  einer  jiinge  Dame  aus  guter 
Familiel "  read  out  Susie  slowly,  not  heeding  Anna, 
and  with  the  most  excruciating  pronunciation  that 
was  ever  heard,  " '  sick  ewig  auf  de7i  Federii,  mit 
welchen  die  burger liche  Gans  gebore7ie  Dobbs  Peters 
sonst  mangelhaftes Nest  ausgestattet  hat.zu  walze^i! 
What  stuff  he  writes.  I  can  hardly  understand  it. 
Yet  I  must  have  been  good  at  it  at  school,  to  get 
the  prize.    What  is  that  bit  about  me  and  Peter?  " 

"  Which  bit  ?  "  said  Anna,  blushing  scarlet.  "  Let 
me  look."  She  got  the  letter  back  into  her  pos- 
session. "  Oh,  that's  where  he  says  that  —  that  he 
doesn't  think  it  fair  that  I  should  be  a  burden  for 
ever  on  you  and  Peter." 

"  Well,  that's  sensible  enough.  The  old  man  had 
some  sense  in  him  after  all,  absurd  though  he  was, 


32  THE  BENEFACTRESS 

and  vulgar.  It  isnt  fair,  of  course.  I  don't  mean  to 
say  anything  disagreeable,  or  throw  all  I  have  done 
for  you  in  your  face,  but  really,  Anna,  few  mothers 
would  have  made  the  sacrifices  I  have  for  you,  and  as 
for  sisters-in-law  —  well,  I'd  just  like  to  see  another." 

"  Dear  Susie,"  said  Anna  tenderly,  putting  her 
arm  round  her,  ready  to  acknowledge  all,  and  more 
than  all,  the  benefits  she  had  received,  "  you  have 
been  only  too  kind  and  generous.  I  know  that  I 
owe  you  everything  in  the  world,  and  just  think 
how  lovely  it  is  for  me  to  feel  that  now  I  can  take 
my  weight  off  your  shoulders !  You  must  come  and 
live  with  me  now,  whenever  you  are  sick  of  things, 
and  I'll  feel  so  proud,  having  you  in  my  house ! " 

"  Live  with  you  ?  "  exclaimed  Susie,  drawing  her- 
self away.     "  Where  are  you  going  to  live  .f*  " 

"  Why,  there,  I  suppose." 

"  Live  there  !     Is  that  a  condition  ?  " 

"  No,  but  Uncle  Joachim  keeps  on  saying  he 
hopes  I  will,  and  that  I'll  settle  down  and  look 
after  the  place." 

"  Look  after  the  place  yourself  ?     How  silly !  " 

"  Yes,  you  haven't  taught  me  much  about  farm- 
ing, have  you  }  He  wants  me  to  turn  quite  into  a 
German." 

"  Good  gracious  !  "  cried  Susie,  genuinely  horri- 
fied. 

"  He  seems  to  think  that  I  ought  to  work,  and 
not  spend  my  life  talking  Klatschr 

"  Talking  what  ?  " 

"  It's  what  German  women  apparently  talk  when 
they  get  together.  We  don't.  I'd  never  do  any- 
thing with  such  an  ugly  name,  and  I'm  positive 
you  wouldn't." 

"  Where  is  this  place  1 " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  33 

"  Near  Stralsund." 

"  And  where  on  earth  is  that  ?  " 

"Ah,"  said  Anna,  investigating  cobwebby 
corners  of  her  memory,  "  that's  what  I  should  like 
to  be  able  to  remember.  Perhaps,"  she  added 
honestly,  "  I  never  knew.  Let  me  call  Letty,  and 
ask  her  to  bring  her  atlas." 

"  Letty  won't  know,"  said  Susie  impatiently, 
"  she  only  knows  the  things  she  oughtn't  to." 

"  Oh,  she  isn't  as  wise  as  all  that,"  said  Anna, 
ringing  the  bell.  "  Anyhow  she  has  maps,  which 
is  more  than  we  have." 

A  servant  was  sent  to  request  Miss  Letty  Est- 
court  to  attend  in  the  drawing-room  with  her  atlas. 

"  Whatever's  in  the  wind  now  ?  "  inquired  Letty, 
open-mouthed,  of  her  governess.  "  They're  not 
going  to  examine  me  this  time  of  night,  are  they, 
Leechy  ?  "  For  she  suffered  greatly  from  having  a 
brother  who  was  ahvays  passing  examinations  and 
coming  out  top,  and  was  consequently  subjected 
herself,  by  an  ambitious  mother  who  was  sure  that 
she  must  be  equally  clever  if  she  would  only  let 
herself  go,  to  every  examination  that  happened  to 
be  going  for  girls  of  her  age  ;  so  that  she  and  Miss 
Leech  spent  their  days  either  on  the  defensive,  pre- 
paring for  these  unprovoked  assaults,  or  in  the 
state  of  collapse  which  followed  the  regularly  re- 
curring defeat,  and  both  found  their  lives  a  burden 
too  great  to  be  borne. 

There  was  a  preliminary  scuffle  of  washing  and 
brushing,  and  then  Letty  marched  into  the  draw- 
ing-room, her  atlas  under  her  arm  and  deep  suspi- 
cion on  her  face.  But  no  bland  and  treacherous 
examiner  was    visible,  covering   his    preliminary 


34  THE    BENEFACTRESS 

movements  with  ghastly  pleasantries ;  only  her 
mother  and  her  pretty  aunt. 

"  Where's  Stralsund  ?  "  they  cried  together,  as 
she  opened  the  door. 

Letty  stopped  short  and  stared.  "  What's  that  ? " 
she  asked. 

"  It's  a  place  —  a  place  in  Germany." 

"  Letty,  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  don't 
know  where  Stralsund  is  ? "  asked  Susie,  in  a  voice 
that  would  have  been  of  thunder  if  it  had  been  big 
enough.  "  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  after  all  the 
money  I  have  spent  on  your  education  you  don't 
know  ^/la^  ?  " 

Was  this  a  new  form  of  torture }  Was  she  to 
find  the  examining  spirit  lurking  even  in  the  famil- 
iar and  hitherto  harmless  forms  of  her  mother 
and  her  aunt  ?  She  openly  showed  her  disgust. 
"  If  it's  a  place,  it's  in  this  atlas,"  she  said,  "  and  if 
this  is  going  to  be  an  examination,  I  don't  think 
it's  fair;  and  if  it's  a  game,  I  don't  like  it."  And 
she  threw  her  atlas  unceremoniously  on  to  the  near- 
est chair ;  for  though  her  mother  could  force  her 
to  do  many  things,  she  could  never,  somehow,  force 
her  to  be  respectful. 

"  What  a  horror  the  child  has  of  lessons  !  "  cried 
Susie.  "  Don't  be  so  silly.  We  only  want  to  see 
if  you  know  where  Stralsund  is,  that's  all." 

"  Tell  us  where  it  is,  Letty "  said  Anna  coax- 
ingly,  kneeling  down  in  front  of  the  chair  and  open- 
ing the  atlas.  "  Let  us  find  the  map  of  Germany 
and  look  for  it.  Why,  you  did  Germany  for  your 
last  exam.  —  you  must  have  it  all  at  your  fingers' 
ends." 

"  It  didn't  stay  there,  then,"  said  Letty  moodily  ; 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  35 

but  she  went  over  to  Anna,  who  was  always  kind  to 
her,  and  began  to  turn  over  the  well-thumbed  pages. 
Oh,  what  recollections  lurked  in  those  dirty  cor- 
ners I     Surely  it  is  hard  on  a  person  of  fourteen, 
who  is  as  fond  of  enjoying  herself  as  anybody  else! 
to  be  made  to  wrestle  with  maps  upstairs  in  a  dreary 
room,  when  the  sun  is  shining,  and  the  voices  of 
the  children  passing  come  up  joyously  to  the  prison 
windows,  and  all  the  world  is  out  of  doors  !    Letty 
thought  so,  and  Miss  Leech  thought  it  hard  on  a 
person  of  thirty,  and  each  tried  to  console  the  other, 
but  neither  knew  how,  for  their  case  seemed  very 
hopeless.     Did  not  unending  vistas  of  classes  and 
lectures  stretch   away  before    and    behind  them, 
dotted  at  intervals,  oh,  so  frequent !  with  the  black 
spots  of  examinations  ?    Was  not  the  pavement  of 
Go wer  Street,  and  Kensington  Square,  and  of  all 
those  districts  where  girls  can  be  lectured  into  wis- 
dom, quite  worn  by  their  patient  feet?     And  then 
the  accomplishments  !     Oh,  what  a  life  it  was  !    A 
man  came  twice  a  week  and  insisted  on  teaching  her 
to  fiddle ;  a  highly  nervous  man,  who  jerked  her 
elbow  and  rapped  her  knuckles  with  his  bow  when- 
ever she  played  out  of  tune,  which  was  all  the  time, 
and  made  bitter  remarks  of  a  killingly  sarcastic 
nature  to  Miss  Leech  when  she  stumbled  over  the 
accompaniments.      On  Wednesdays  there  was  a 
dancing  class,  where  a  pinched  young  lady  played 
the  piano  with  the  energy  of  despair,  and  a  hot  and 
agile  master  with  unduly  turned-out  toes  taught 
the  girls  the   Lancers,  earning  his   bread  in  the 
sweat  of  his  brow.     He  also  was  sarcastic,  but  he 
clothed  his  sarcasms  in  the  garb  of  kindly  fun, 
laughing  gently  at  them  himself,  and  expecting  his 


36  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

pupils  to  laugh  too ;  which  they  did  uneasily,  for 
the  fun  was  of  a  personal  nature,  evoked  by  the 
clumsiness  or  stupidity  of  one  or  other  of  them, 
and  none  knew  when  her  own  turn  might  not  come. 
The  lesson  ended  with  what  he  called  the  March 
of  Grace  round  the  room,  each  girl  by  herself, 
no  music  to  drown  the  noise  her  shoes  made  on 
the  bare  boards,  the  others  looking  on,  and  the 
master  making  comments.  This  march  was  ter- 
rible to  Letty.  All  her  nightmares  were  connected 
with  it.  She  was  a  podgy,  dull-looking  girl,  fat 
and  pale  and  awkward,  and  her  mother  made  her 
wear  cheap  shoes  that  creaked.  "  Miss  Estcourt 
has  new  shoes  on  again,"  the  dancing  master  would 
say,  gently  smiling,  when  Letty  was  well  on  her 
way  round  the  room,  cut  off  from  all  human  aid, 
conscious  of  every  inch  of  her  body,  desperately 
trying  to  be  graceful.  And  everybody  tittered 
except  the  victim.  "  You  know,  Miss  Estcourt," 
he  would  say  at  every  second  lesson,  "  there  is 
a  saying  that  creaking  shoes  have  not  been  paid 
for.  I  beg  your  pardon  ?  Did  you  say  they  had 
been  paid  for?  Miss  Estcourt  says  she  does  not 
know."  And  he  would  turn  to  his  other  pupils 
with  a  shrug  and  a  gentle  smile. 

On  Saturday  afternoons  there  were  the  Popular 
Concerts  at  St.  James's  Hall  to  be  gone  to  —  Susie 
regarded  them  as  educational,  and  subscribed  — 
and  Letty,  who  always  had  chilblains  on  her  feet  in 
winter,  suffered  tortures  trying  not  to  rub  them  ; 
for  as  surely  as  she  moved  one  foot  and  began  to 
rub  the  other  with  it,  however  gently,  fierce  enthu- 
siasts in  the  row  in  front  would  turn  on  her  —  old 
gentlemen  of  an  otherwise  humane  appearance,  rapt 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  37 

ladies  with  eyeglasses  and  loose  clothes  —  and 
sh-sh-  her  with  furious  hissings  into  immobility. 
"  Oh,  Letty,  try  and  sit  still,"  Miss  Leech,  who 
dreaded  publicity,  would  implore  in  a  whisper;  but 
who  that  has  not  had  them  can  know  the  torture 
of  chilblains  inside  thick  boots,  where  they  cannot 
be  got  at  ?  As  soon  as  the  chilblains  went,  the  Sat- 
urday concerts  left  off,  and  it  seemed  as  though 
Fate  had  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  be  spiteful. 

It  was  indeed  a  dreadful  thing,  thought  Letty, 
as  she  bent  over  the  map  of  Germany,  to  be  young 
and  to  have  to  be  made  clever  at  all  costs.  Here 
was  her  aunt  even,  her  pretty,  kind  aunt,  asking 
her  geography  questions  at  seven  o'clock  at  night, 
when  she  thought  that  she  had  really  done  with 
lessons  for  one  more  day,  and  had  been  so  much 
enjoying  Leechy's  description  of  the  only  man 
she  ever  loved,  while  she  comfortably  toasted 
cheese  at  the  schoolroom  fire.  Anna,  who  spent 
such  lofty  hours  of  spiritual  exaltation  at  St.  Paul's, 
and  came  away  with  her  soul  melted  into  pity  for 
the  unhappy,  and  yearned  with  her  whole  being  to 
help  them,  never  thought  of  Letty  as  a  creature 
who  might  perhaps  be  helped  to  cheerfulness  with 
a  little  trouble.  Letty  was  too  close  at  hand ;  and 
enthusiastic  philanthropists,  casting  about  for  ob- 
jects of  charity,  seldom  see  what  is  at  their  feet. 

It  was  so  difficult  to  find  Stralsund  that  by  the 
time  Letty 's  wandering  finger  had  paused  upon  it 
Susie  could  only  give  one  glance  of  horror  at  its 
position,  and  hurry  away  with  Anna  to  dress. 
Anna,  too,  would  have  preferred  it  to  be  farther 
south,  in  the  Black  Forest,  or  some  other  roman- 
tic region,  where  it  would  have  amused  her  to  go 


38  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

occasionally,  at  least,  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  sum- 
mer. But  there  it  was,  as  far  north  as  it  could  be, 
in  a  part  of  the  world  she  had  hardly  heard  of, 
except  in  connection  with  dogs. 

It  did  not,  however,  matter  where  it  was.  Uncle 
Joachim  had  merely  recommended  and  not  en- 
joined. It  would  be  rather  extraordinary  for  her 
to  go  there  and  set  up  housekeeping  alone.  She 
need  not  go ;  she  was  almost  sure  she  would  not 
go.  Anyhow  there  was  no  necessity  to  decide  at 
once.  The  money  was  what  she  wanted,  and  she 
could  spend  it  where  she  chose.  Let  Uncle  Joa- 
chim's inspector,  of  whom  he  wrote  in  such  praise, 
go  on  getting  forty  thousand  marks  a  year  out  of 
the  place,  and  she  would  be  perfectly  content. 

She  ran  upstairs  to  put  on  her  prettiest  dress,  and 
to  have  her  hair  done  in  the  curls  and  waves  she  had 
so  long  eschewed.  Should  she  not  make  herself  as 
charming  as  possible  for  this  charming  world,  where 
everybody  was  so  good  and  kind,  and  add  her 
measure  of  beauty  and  kindness  to  the  rest  ?  She 
beamed  on  Letty  as  she  passed  her  on  the  stairs, 
climbing  slowly  up  with  her  big  atlas,  and  took  it 
from  her  and  would  carry  it  herself ;  she  beamed  on 
Miss  Leech,  who  was  watching  for  her  pupil  at  the 
schoolroom  door;  she  beamed  on  her  maid,  she 
beamed  on  her  own  reflection  in  the  glass,  which 
indeed  at  that  moment  was  that  of  a  very  beautiful 
young  woman.  Oh  happy,  happy  world  !  What 
should  she  do  with  so  much  money  ?  She,  who  had 
never  had  a  penny  in  her  life,  thought  it  an  enor- 
mous, an  inexhaustible  sum.  One  thing  was  certain 
—  it  was  all  to  be  spent  in  doing  good;  she  would 
help  as  many  people  with  it  as  she  possibly  could, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  39 

and  never,  never,  never  let  them  feel  that  they  were 
under  obligations.  Did  she  not  know,  after  fifteen 
years  of  dependence  on  Susie,  what  it  was  like  to 
be  under  obligations  ?  And  what  was  more  cruelly 
sad  and  crushing  and  deadening  than  dependence  ? 
She  did  not  yet  know  what  sort  of  people  she  would 
help,  or  in  what  way  she  would  help,  but  oh,  she 
was  going  to  make  heaps  of  people  happy  forever ! 
While  Hilton  was  curling  her  hair,  she  thought  of 
slums ;  but  remembered  that  they  would  bring  her 
into  contact  with  the  clergy,  and  most  of  her  offers 
of  late  had  been  from  the  clergy.  Even  the  vicar 
who  had  prepared  her  for  confirmation,  his  first  wife 
being  then  alive,  and  a  second  having  since  been 
mourned,  had  wanted  to  marr^^  her.  "  It's  because 
I  am  twenty-five  and  staid  that  they  think  me  suit- 
able," she  thought ;  but  she  could  not  help  smiling 
at  the  face  in  the  glass. 

When  she  was  dressed  and  ready  to  go  down  she 
was  forced  to  ask  herself  whether  the  person  that 
she  saw  in  the  glass  looked  in  the  least  like  a  person 
who  would  ever  lead  the  simple,  frugal,  hard-work- 
ing life  that  Uncle  Joachim  had  called  the  better  life, 
and  in  which  he  seemed  to  think  she  would  alone 
find  contentment.  Certainly  she  knew  him  to  be 
very  wise.  Well,  nothing  need  be  decided  yet.  Per- 
haps she  would  go — perhaps  she  would  not.  "  It's 
this  white  dress  that  makes  me  look  so — so  unsuit- 
able," she  said  to  herself,  "and  Hilton's  wonderful 
waves." 

And  she  went  downstairs  trying  not  to  sing,  the 
sweetest  of  feminine  creatures,  happiness  and  love 
and  kindness  shining  in  her  eyes,  a  lovely  thing 
saved  from  the  blight  of  empty  years,  and  brought 


40  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

back  to  beauty,  by  Uncle  Joachim's  timely  inter> 
ference. 

Letty  and  Miss  Leech  heard  the  singing,  and 
stopped  involuntarily  in  their  conversation.  It  was 
a  strange  sound  in  that  dull  and  joyless  house. 

"  I  don't  know  what's  the  matter,  Leechy,"  Letty 
had  said,  on  her  return  from  the  drawing-room, 
"  but  mamma  and  Aunt  Anna  are  too  weird  to- 
night for  anything.  What  do  you  think  they  had 
me  down  for  ?  They  didn't  know  where  Stralsund 
was,  and  wanted  to  find  out.  They  pretended  they 
wanted  to  see  if  /  knew,  but  I  soon  saw  through 
that  game.  And  Aunt  Anna  looks  frightfully 
happy.  I  believe  she's  going  to  be  married,  and 
wants  to  go  to  Stralsund  for  the  honeymoon." 

And  Letty  took  up  her  toasting  fork,  while  Miss 
Leech,  as  in  duty  bound,  refreshed  her  pupil's 
memory  in  regard  to  Stralsund  and  Wallenstein 
and  the  Hansa  cities  generally. 


CHAPTER    IV 

Peter,  meditating  on  the  banks  of  the  river  at 
Estcourt,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  journey  to 
London  would  be  made  unnecessary  by  the  equal 
efficacy  of  a  congratulatory  letter. 

He  had  been  greatly  moved  by  the  news  of  his 
sister's  good  fortune,  and  in  the  first  flush  of  pleasure 
and  sympathy  had  ordered  his  things  to  be  packed 
in  readiness  for  his  departure  by  the  night  train. 
Then  he  had  gone  down  to  the  river,  and  there, 
thinking  the  matter  over  quietly,  amid  the  soothing 
influences  of  grey  sky,  grey  water,  and  green  grass, 
he  gradually  perceived  that  a  letter  would  convey  all 
that  he  felt  quite  well,  perhaps  better  than  any  verbal 
expressions  of  joy,  and  as  he  would  in  any  case  only 
stay  a  few  hours  in  town  the  long  journey  seemed 
hardly  worth  while.  He  sent  a  letter,  therefore,  that 
very  evening  —  a  kind,  brotherly  letter,  in  which, 
after  heartily  congratulating  his  dear  little  sister,  he 
said  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  her  to  go  over  to 
Germany,  see  the  lawyer,  and  take  possession  of  her 
property.  When  she  had  done  that,  and  made  all 
arrangements  as  to  the  future  payment  of  the  in- 
come derived  from  the  estate,  she  would  of  course 
come  back  to  them  ;  for  Estcourt  was  always  to  be 
her  home,  and  now  that  she  was  independent  she 
would  no  longer  be  obliged  to  be  wherever  Susie 
was,  but  would,  he  hoped,  come  to  him,  and  they 
could  go  fishing  together, — "  and  there's  nothing  to 
beat  fishing,"  concluded  Peter,  "  if  you  want  peace." 

41 


42  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

But  Anna  did  not  want  peace  ;  at  least,  not  that 
kind  of  peace  just  at  that  moment.  Sitting  in  a 
punt  was  not  what  she  wanted.  She  was  thrilled 
by  the  love  of  her  less  fortunate  fellow-creatures, 
and  the  sense  of  power  to  help  them,  and  the  long- 
ing to  go  and  do  it.  What  she  really  wanted  of 
Peter  was  that  he  should  take  her  to  Germany 
and  help  her  through  the  formalities ;  for  before 
his  letter  arrived  she  too  had  seen  that  that  was 
the  first  thing  to  be  done. 

Of  this,  however,  he  did  not  write  a  word.  She 
thought  he  must  have  forgotten,  so  natural  did  it 
appear  to  her  that  her  brother  should  go  with  her ; 
and  she  wrote  him  a  little  note,  asking  when  he 
would  be  able  to  get  away.  She  received  a  long 
letter  in  reply,  full  of  regrets,  excuses,  and  good 
reasons,  which  she  read  wonderingly.  Had  she 
been  selfish,  or  was  Peter  selfish  ?  She  thought  it 
all  out  carefully,  and  found  that  it  was  she  who 
had  been  selfish  to  expect  Peter,  always  a  hater  of 
business  and  a  lover  of  quiet,  to  go  all  that  way 
and  worry  himself  with  tiresome  money  arrange- 
ments. Besides,  perhaps  he  was  not  feeling  well. 
She  knew  he  suffered  from  rheumatism ;  and  when 
you  have  rheumatism  the  mere  thought  of  a  long 
journey  is  appalling. 

Susie,  whose  head  was  very  clear  on  all  matters 
concerning  money,  had  also  recognised  the  neces- 
sity of  Anna's  going  to  Germany,  and  had  also 
regarded  Peter  as  the  most  natural  companion  and 
guide ;  but  she  was  not  surprised  when  Anna  told 
her  that  he  could  not  go.  "  It  was  too  much  to  ex- 
pect," apologised  Anna.  "  He  often  has  rheumatism 
in  the  spring,  and  perhaps  he  has  it  now." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  43 

Susie  sniffed. 

"  The  question  is,"  said  Anna  after  a  pause, 
"  what  am  I  to  do,  helpless  virgin,  in  spite  of  my 
years,  —  never  able  to  do  a  thing  for  myself?" 

"  I'll  go  with  you." 

"  You  ?     But  what  about  your  engagements  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  throw  them  over,  and  take  you.  Letty 
can  come  too.  It  will  do  her  German  good.  Herr 
Schumpf  says  he's  ashamed  of  her." 

Susie  had  various  reasons  for  offering  herself  so 
amiably,  one  being  certainly  curiosity.  But  the 
chief  one  was  that  the  same  woman  who  had  been  so 
rude  to  her  the  day  Anna's  news  came,  had  sent  out 
invitations  to  all  the  world  to  her  daughter's  wed- 
ding after  Easter,  and  had  not  sent  one  to  Susie. 

This  was  one  of  those  trials  that  cannot  be  faced. 
If  she,  being  in  London  at  the  time,  carefully  ex- 
plained to  her  friends  that  she  was  ill  that  day,  and 
did  actually  stay  in  bed  and  dose  herself  the  days 
preceding  and  following,  who  would  believe  her.^^ 
Not  if  she  waved  a  doctor's  certificate  in  their  faces 
would  they  believe  her.  They  would  know  that 
she  had  not  been  invited,  and  would  rejoice.  She 
felt  that  she  could  not  bear  it.  An  unavoidable  busi- 
ness journey  to  the  Continent  was  exactly  what  she 
wanted  to  help  her  out  of  this  desperate  situation. 
On  her  return  she  would  be  able  to  hear  the  wed- 
ding discussed  and  express  her  disappointment  at 
having  missed  it  with  a  serene  brow  and  a  quiet 
mind. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  she  would  have  gone  with 
Anna,  however  urgent  Anna's  need,  if  she  had  been 
included  in  those  invitations.  But  Anna,  who 
could  not  know  the  secret  workings  of  her  mind, 


44  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

once  more  remembered  her  former  treatment  ot 
Susie,  so  kind  and  willing  to  do  all  she  could,  and 
hung  her  head  with  shame. 

They  left  London  a  day  or  two  before  Easter, 
Letty  and  Miss  Leech,  both  of  them  nearly  ill  with 
suppressed  delight  at  the  unexpected  holiday,  going 
with  them.  They  had  announced  their  coming  to 
Uncle  Joachim's  lawyer,  and  asked  him  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  their  accommodation  at  Kleinwalde, 
Anna's  new  possession.  Susie  proposed  to  stay  a 
day  in  Berlin,  which  would  give  Anna  time  to  talk 
everything  over  with  the  lawyer,  and  would  enable 
Letty  to  visit  the  museums.  She  had  a  hopeful 
idea  that  Letty  would  absorb  German  at  every  pore 
once  she  was  in  the  country  itself,  and  that  being 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  statues  of  Goethe  and 
Schiller  on  their  native  soil  would  kindle  the  sparks 
of  interest  in  German  literature  that  she  supposed 
every  well-taught  child  possessed,  into  the  roaring 
flame  of  enthusiasm.  She  could  not  believe  that 
Letty  had  no  sparks.  One  of  her  children  being 
so  abnormally  clever,  it  must  be  sheer  obstinacy  on 
the  part  of  the  other  that  prevented  it  from  acquir- 
ing the  knowledge  offered  daily  in  such  unstinted 
quantities.  She  had  no  illusions  in  regard  to  Letty 's 
person,  and  felt  that  as  she  would  never  be  pretty 
it  was  of  importance  that  she  should  at  least  be 
cultured.  She  sat  opposite  her  daughter  in  the 
train,  and  having  nothing  better  to  do  during  the 
long  hours  that  they  were  jolting  across  North 
Germany,  looked  at  her ;  and  the  more  she  looked 
the  more  unreasoningly  angry  she  became  that 
Peter's  sister  should  be  so  pretty  and  Peter's 
daughter  so  plain.     And   then  so  fat!     What  a 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  45 

horrible  thing  to  have  to  take  a  fat  daughter  about 
with  you  in  society.  Where  did  she  get  it  from  ? 
She  herself  and  Peter  were  the  leanest  of  mortals. 
It  must  be  that  Letty  ate  too  much,  which  was  not 
only  a  disgusting  practice  but  an  expensive  one,  and 
should  be  put  down  at  once  with  rigour.  Susie 
had  not  had  such  an  opportunity  of  thoroughly  in- 
specting her  child  for  years,  and  the  result  of  this 
prolonged  examination  of  her  weak  points  was  that 
she  would  not  let  any  of  the  party  have  anything  to 
eat  at  all,  declaring  that  it  was  vulgar  to  eat  in 
trains,  expressing  amazement  that  people  should 
bring  themselves  to  touch  the  horrid-looking  food 
offered,  and  turning  her  back  in  impatient  disgust 
on  two  stout  German  ladies  who  had  got  in  at  Ober- 
hausen,  and  who  Avere  enjoying  their  lunch  quite 
unmoved  by  her  contempt  —  one  eating  a  chicken 
from  beginning  to  end  without  a  fork,  and  the  other 
taking  repeated  sips  of  an  obviously  satisfactory 
nature  from  a  big  wine  bottle,  which  was  used,  in 
the  intervals,  as  a  support  to  her  back. 

By  the  time  Berlin  was  reached,  these  ladies, 
having  been  properly  fed  all  day,  were  very  cheerful, 
whereas  Susie's  party  was  speechless  from  exhaus- 
tion ;  especially  poor  Miss  Leech,  who  was  never 
very  strong,  and  so  nearly  fainted  that  Susie  was 
obliged  to  notice  it,  and  expressed  a  conviction  to 
Anna  in  a  loud  and  peevish  aside  that  Miss  Leech 
was  going  to  be  a  nuisance. 

"  It  is  strange,"  thought  Anna,  as  she  crept 
into  bed,  "  how  travelling  brings  out  one's  worst 
passions." 

It  is  indeed  strange ;  for  it  is  certain  that  noth- 
ing equals  the  expectant  enthusiasm  and  mutual 


46  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

esteem  of  the  start  except  the  cold  dislike  of  the 
finish.  Many  are  the  friendships  that  have  found 
an  unforeseen  and  sudden  end  on  a  journey,  and 
few  are  those  that  survive  it.  But  if  Horace  Wal- 
pole  and  Grey  fell  out,  if  Byron  and  Leigh  Hunt 
were  obliged  to  part,  if  a  host  of  other  personages, 
endowed  with  every  gift  that  makes  companion- 
ship desirable,  could  not  away  with  each  other 
after  a  few  weeks  together  abroad,  is  it  to  be 
wondered  at  that  weaker  vessels  such  as  Susie  and 
Anna,  Letty  and  Miss  Leech,  should  have  found 
the  short  journey  from  London  to  Berlin  sufficient 
to  enable  them  to  see  one  another's  failings  with  a 
clearness  of  vision  that  was  startling  ? 

On  the  lawyer,  a  keen-eyed  man  with  a  con- 
spicuously fine  face,  Anna  made  an  entirely  favour- 
able impression.  When  he  saw  this  gracious  young 
lady,  so  simple  and  so  friendly,  and  looked  into  her 
frank  and  charming  eyes,  he  perfectly  understood 
that  old  Joachim  should  have  been  bewitched.  But 
after  a  little  conversation,  it  appeared  that  she 
had  no  present  intention  of  carrying  out  her 
uncle's  wishes,  but,  setting  them  coolly  aside,  pro- 
posed to  spend  all  the  good  German  money  she 
could  extract  from  her  property  in  that  replete  and 
bloated  land,  England. 

This  annoyed  him  ;  first  because  he  hated  Eng- 
land and  then  because  his  father  had  managed  old 
Joachim's  affairs  before  he  himself  had  stepped  into 
the  paternal  shoes,  and  the  feeling  of  both  father 
and  son  for  the  old  man  had  been  considerably 
warmer  than  is  usual  between  lawyer  and  client. 
Still  he  could  not  believe,  judging  after  the  manner 
of  men,  that  anything  so  pretty  could  also  be  un- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  47 

kind;  and  scrutinising  Lady  Estcourt,  because  she 
was  unattractive  and  had  a  sharp  Httle  face  and  a 
restless  little  body,  he  was  convinced  that  she  it  was 
who  was  the  cause  of  this  setting  aside  of  a  dead 
benefactor's  wishes.  Susie,  for  her  part,  patronised 
him  because  his  collar  turned  down. 

Whenever  Letty  thought  afterwards  of  Berlin, 
she  thought  of  it  as  a  place  where  all  the  houses 
are  museums,  and  where  you  drink  so  many  cups 
of  chocolate  with  whipped  cream  on  the  top  that 
you  see  things  double  for  the  rest  of  the  time. 

Anna  thought  of  it  as  a  charming  place,  where 
delightful  lawyers  fill  your  purse  with  money. 

Susie  thought  of  it  with  satisfaction  as  the  one 
place  abroad  where,  by  dint  of  sternest  economy, 
walks  from  sight  to  sight  in  the  rain,  and  promis- 
cuous cakes  instead  of  the  more  satisfactory  but 
less  cheap  meals  Letty  called  square,  she  had  suc- 
cessfully defended  herself  from  being,  as  she  put 
it,  fleeced. 

To  Miss  Leech,  it  was  merely  a  place  where 
your  feet  get  wet,  and  your  clothes  are  spoilt. 

Early  the  next  morning  they  started  for  Klein- 
walde. 


CHAPTER   V 

Stralsund  is  an  old  town  of  gabled  houses,  an- 
cient churches,  and  quaint,  roughly  paved  streets, 
forming  an  island,  and  joined  to  the  mainland  by 
dikes.  It  looks  its  best  in  the  early  summer,  when 
the  green  and  marshy  plains  on  whose  edge  it 
stands  are  strewn  with  kingcups,  and  the  little 
white  clouds  hang  over  them  almost  motionless, 
and  the  cattle  are  out,  and  the  larks  sing,  and  the 
orange  and  red  sails  of  the  fishing-smacks  on  the 
narrow  belt  of  sea  that  divides  the  town  from 
the  island  of  Riigen  make  brilliant  points  of  con- 
trasting colour  between  the  blue  of  water  and  sky. 
There  is  a  divine  freshness  and  brightness  about 
the  surrounding  stretches  of  coarse  grass  and  com- 
mon flowers  at  that  blest  season  of  the  year.  The 
air  is  full  of  the  smell  of  the  sea.  The  sun  beats 
down  fiercely  on  plain  and  city.  The  people  come 
out  of  the  rooms  in  which  most  of  their  life  is  spent, 
and  stand  in  the  doorways  and  remark  on  the  heat. 
An  occasional  heavy  cart  bumps  over  the  stones, 
heard  in  that  sleepy  place  for  several  minutes  be- 
fore and  after  its  passing.  There  is  an  honest, 
tarry,  fishy  smell  everywhere ;  and  the  traveller  of 
poetic  temperament  in  search  of  the  picturesque, 
and  not  too  nice  about  his  comforts,  could  not  fail, 
visiting  it  for  the  first  time  in  the  month  of  June, 
to  be  wholly  delighted  that  he  had  come. 

48 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  49 

But  in  winter,  and  especially  in  those  doubly 
gloomy  days  at  the  end  of  winter,  when  spring 
ought  to  have  shown  some  signs  of  its  approach 
and  has  not  done  so,  those  days  of  howling  winds 
and  driving  rain  and  frequent  belated  snowstorms, 
this  plain  is  merely  a  bleak  expanse  of  dreariness, 
with  a  forlorn  old  town  huddling  in  its  farthest 
corner. 

It  was  at  its  very  bleakest  and  dreariest  on  the 
morning  that  Susie  and  her  three  companions 
travelled  across  it.  "  What  a  place !  "  exclaimed 
Susie,  as  mile  after  mile  was  traversed,  and  there 
was  still  the  same  succession  of  flat  ploughed  fields, 
marshes,  and  ploughed  fields  again,  with  a  rare 
group  of  furiously  swaying  pine  trees  or  of  silver 
birches  bent  double  before  the  wind.  "  What  a 
part  of  the  world  to  come  and  live  in !  That  old 
uncle  of  yours  was  as  cracked  as  he  could  be  to 
think  you'd  ever  stay  here  for  good.  And  imagine 
spending  even  a  single  shilling  buying  land  here. 
I  wouldn't  take  a  barrowful  at  a  gift. " 

"  Well,  I  am  taking  a  great  many  barrowfuls," 
said  Anna,  "and  I  am  sure  Uncle  Joachim  was 
right  to  buy  a  place  here  —  he  was  always  right. " 

"  Oh,  of  course,  it's  your  duty  now  to  praise  him 
up.  Perhaps  it  gets  better  farther  on,  but  I  don't 
see  how  anybody  can  squeeze  two  thousand  a 
year  out  of  a  desert  like  this." 

The  prospect  from  the  railway  that  day  was  cer- 
tainly not  attractive;  but  Anna  told  herself  that 
any  place  would  look  dreary  such  weather,  and  was 
much  too  happy  in  the  first  flush  of  independence 
to  be  depressed  by  anything  whatever.  Had  she 
not  that  very  morning  given  the  chambermaid  at 


50  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  Berlin  hotel  so  bounteous  a  reward  for  services 
not  rendered  that  the  woman  herself  had  said  it 
was  too  much  ?  Thus  making  amends  for  those  in- 
numerable departures  from  hotels  when  Susie  had 
escaped  without  giving  anything  at  all.  Had  she 
not  also  asked,  and  readily  obtained,  permission  of 
Susie  at  the  station  in  Berlin  to  pay  for  the  tickets 
of  the  whole  party  ?  And  had  it  not  been  a  delight- 
ful and  warming  feeling,  buying  those  tickets  for 
other  people  instead  of  having  tickets  bought  by 
other  people  for  herself  ?  At  Pasewalk,  a  little  town 
half  way  between  Berlin  and  Stralsund,  where  the 
train  stopped  ten  minutes,  she  insisted  on  getting 
out,  defying  the  sleet  and  the  puddles,  and  went  into 
the  refreshment  room,  and  bought  eggs  and  rolls 
and  cakes,  —  everything  she  could  find  that  was 
least  offensive.  Also  a  guidebook  to  Stralsund, 
though  she  was  not  going  to  stop  in  Stralsund; 
also  some  postcards  with  views  on  them,  though 
she  never  used  postcards  with  views  on  them,  and 
came  back  loaded  with  parcels,  her  face  glowing 
with  childish  pleasure  at  spending  money. 

"  My  dear  Anna,"  said  Susie ;  but  she  was  hun- 
gry, and  ate  a  roll  with  perfect  complacency,  allow- 
ing Letty  to  do  the  same,  although  only  two  days 
had  elapsed  since  she  had  so  energetically  lec- 
tured her  on  the  grossness  of  eating  in  trains. 

Susie  was  in  a  particularly  amiable  frame  of  mind, 
and  in  spite  of  the  weather  was  looking  forward  to 
seeing  the  place  Uncle  Joachim  had  thought  would 
be  a  fit  home  for  his  niece ;  and  as  she  and  Anna 
were  sitting  together  at  one  end  of  the  carriage,  and 
Letty  and  Miss  Leech  were  at  the  other,  and  there 
was  no  one  else  in  the  compartment,  she  was  neither 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  51 

Upset  by  the  too  near  contemplation  of  her  daughter, 
nor  by  the  aspect  of  other  travellers  lunching. 
Miss  Leech,  always  mindful  of  her  duties,  was 
making  the  most  of  her  five  hours'  journey  by  en- 
deavouring, in  a  low  voice,  to  clear  away  the  haze 
that  hung  in  her  pupil's  mind  round  the  details  of 
her  last  winter's  German  studies.  "  Don't  you 
remember  anything  of  Professor  Smith's  lectures, 
Letty  ?  "  she  inquired.  "  Why,  they  were  all  about 
just  this  part  of  Germany,  and  it  makes  it  so  much 
more  interesting  if  one  knows  what  happened  at 
the  different  places.  Stralsund,  you  know,  where 
we  shall  be  presently,  has  had  a  most  turbulent 
and  interesting  past." 

"  Has  it  ?  "  said  Letty.  "  Well,  I  can't  help  it, 
Leechy." 

"  No ;  but  my  dear,  you  should  try  to  recollect 
something  at  least  of  what  you  heard  at  the  lectures. 
Have  you  forgotten  the  paper  you  wrote  about 
Wallenstein  ? " 

"  I  remember  I  did  a  paper.  Beastly  hard  it  was, 
too." 

"Oh,  Letty,  don't  say  beastly  —  it  really  isn't  a 
ladylike  word." 

"  Why,  mamma's  always  saying  it." 

"  Oh,  well.  Don't  you  know  what  Wallenstein 
said  when  he  was  besieging  Stralsund  and  found  it 
such  a  difficult  task  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  he  said  too  that  it  was  beastly  hard." 

"Oh,  Letty  —  it  was  something  about  chains. 
Now  do  you  remember?  " 

"  Chains  ?  "  repeated  Letty,  looking  bored.  "  Do 
you  know,  Leechy  ?  " 

"Yes,  I  still  remember  that,  though  I  confess 


52  THE    BENEFACTRESS 

that  I  have  forgotten  the  greater  part  of  what  I 
heard." 

"  Then  what  do  you  ask  me  for,  when  you  know 
I  don't  know  ?     What  did  he  say  about  chains  ?  " 

"  He  said  that  he'd  take  the  city,  if  it  were  rivetted 
to  heaven  with  chains  of  iron,"  said  Miss  Leech 
dramatically. 

"  What  a  goat." 

"  Oh,  hush  —  don't  say  those  horrible  words. 
Where  do  you  learn  them?  Not  from  me,  cer- 
tainly not  from  me,"  said  Miss  Leech,  distressed. 
She  had  a  profound  horror  of  slang,  and  was  be- 
wildered by  the  way  in  which  these  weeds  of  rheto- 
ric sprang  up  on  all  occasions  in  Letty's  speech. 

"  Well,  and  was  it  ?  " 

"  Was  it  what,  my  dear  ?  " 

"  Chained  to  heaven  ?  " 

"  The  city  ?  Why,  how  can  a  city  be  chained 
to  heaven,  Letty  ?  " 

"  Then  what  did  he  say  it  for } " 

"  He  was  using  a  metaphor." 

"Oh,"  said  Letty,  who  did  not  know  what  a 
metaphor  was,  but  supposed  it  must  be  something 
used  in  sieges,  and  preferred  not  to  inquire  too 
closely. 

"  He  was  obliged  to  retire,"  said  Miss  Leech, 
"  leaving  enormous  numbers  of  slain  on  the  field." 

"  Poor  beasts.  I  say,  Leechy,"  she  whispered, 
"  don't  let's  bother  about  history  now.  Go  on  with 
Mr.  Jessup.  You'd  got  to  where  he  called  you 
Amy  for  the  first  time." 

Mr.  Jessup  was  the  person  already  alluded  to  in 
these  pages  as  the  only  man  Miss  Leech  had  ever 
loved,  and  his  history  was  of  absorbing  interest  to 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  53 

Letty,  who  never  tired  of  hearing  his  first  appear- 
ance on  Miss  Leech's  horizon  described,  with  his 
subsequent  advances  before  the  stage  of  open  court- 
ing was  reached,  the  courting  itself,  and  its  mel- 
ancholy end;  for  Mr.  Jessup,  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  with  a  vicarage  all  ready  to 
receive  his  wife,  had  suddenly  become  a  prey  to 
new  convictions,  and  had  gone  over  to  the  Church 
of  Rome ;  whereupon  Miss  Leech's  father,  also  a 
clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  had  talked  a 
great  deal  about  the  Scarlet  Woman  of  Babylon, 
and  had  shut  the  door  in  Mr.  Jessup's  face  when 
next  he  called  to  explain.  This  had  happened 
when  Miss  Leech  was  twenty.  Now,  at  thirty,  an 
orphan  resigned  to  the  world's  buffets,  she  found 
a  gentle  consolation  in  repeating  the  story  of  her 
ill-starred  engagement  to  her  keenly  interested 
friend  and  pupil ;  and  the  oftener  she  repeated  it 
the  less  did  it  grieve  her,  till  at  last  she  came  actu- 
ally to  enjoy  the  remembrance  of  it,  pleased  to 
have  played  the  principal  part  even  in  a  drama 
that  was  hissed  off  her  little  stage,  glad  to  find  a 
sympathetic  listener,  dwelling  much  and  fondly 
on  every  incident  of  that  short  period  of  import- 
ance and  glory. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  she  would  ever  have  ex- 
tracted the  same  amount  of  pleasure  from  Mr.  Jes- 
sup had  he  remained  fixed  in  the  faith  of  his  fathers 
and  married  her  in  due  season.  By  his  secession  he 
had  unconsciously  become  a  sort  of  providence  to 
Letty  and  herself,  saving  them  from  endless  hours  of 
dulness,  furnishing  their  lonely  schoolroom  life  with 
romance  and  mystery ;  and  if  in  Miss  Leech's  mind 
he  gradually  took  on  the  sweet  intangibility  of  a 


54  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

pleasant  dream,  he  was  the  very  pith  and  marrow  of 
Letty's  existence.  She  glowed  and  thrilled  at  the 
thought  that  perhaps  she  too  would  one  day  have  a 
Mr.  Jessup  of  her  own,  who  would  have  convictions, 
and  give  up  everything,  herself  included,  for  what  he 
believed  to  be  right. 

As  usual,  they  at  once  became  absorbed  in  Mr. 
Jessup,  forgetting  in  the  contemplation  of  his  excel- 
lencies everything  else  in  the  world,  till  they  were 
roused  to  realities  by  their  arrival  at  Stralsund ;  and 
Susie,  thrusting  books  and  bags  and  umbrellas  into 
their  passive  hands,  pushed  them  out  of  the  carriage 
into  the  wet. 

Hilton,  the  maid  shared  by  Susie  and  Anna,  had 
then  to  be  found  and  urged  to  clamber  down  quickly 
on  to  the  low  platform,  where  she  stood  helplessly, 
the  picture  of  injured  superiority,  hustled  by  the 
hurrying  porters  and  passengers,  out  of  whose  way 
she  scorned  to  move,  while  Anna  went  to  look  for 
the  luggage  and  have  it  put  into  the  cart  that  had 
been  sent  for  it. 

This  cart  was  an  ordinary  farm  cart,  used  for 
bringing  in  the  hay  in  June,  but  also  used  for  carry- 
ing out  the  manure  in  November;  and  on  a  sack  of 
straw  lying  in  the  bottom  it  was  expected  that  Hilton 
should  sit.  The  farm  boy  who  drove  it,  and  who 
helped  the  porter  to  tie  the  trunks  to  its  sides  lest 
they  should  too  violently  bump  against  each  other 
and  Hilton  on  the  way,  said  so  ;  the  coachman  of  the 
carriage  waiting  for  the  Herrschaften  pointed  with 
his  whip  first  at  Hilton  and  then  at  the  cart,  and  said 
so;  the  porter,  who  seemed  to  think  it  quite  natural, 
said  so ;  and  everybody  was  waiting  for  Hilton  to  get 
in,  who,  when  she  had  at  length  grasped  the  situation, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  55 

went  to  Susie,  who  was  looking  frightened  and  pre- 
tending to  be  absorbed  by  the  sky,  and  with  a  voice 
shaken  by  passion,  and  a  face  changing  from  white 
to  red,  announced  her  intention  of  only  going  in  that 
cart  as  a  corpse,  when  they  might  do  with  her  as 
they  pleased,  but  as  a  living  body  with  breath  in  it, 
never. 

Here  was  a  difificulty.  And  idlers,  whose  curios- 
ity was  not  extinguishable  by  wind  and  sleet,  began 
topress round,  andpeople  who  had  come  by  the  same 
train  stopped  on  their  way  out  to  listen.  The  farm 
boy  patted  the  sack  and  declared  that  it  was  clean 
straw,  the  coachman  stood  up  on  his  box  and  swore 
that  it  was  a  new  sack,  the  porter  assured  the  Frau- 
lein  that  it  was  as  comfortable  as  a  feather  bed, 
and  nobody  seemed  to  understand  that  what  she 
was  being  offered  was  an  insult. 

Susie  was  afraid  of  Hilton,  who  had  been  in  the 
service  of  duchesses,  and  who  held  these  duchesses 
over  her  mistress's  head  whenever  her  mistress 
wanted  to  do  anything  that  was  inconvenient  to 
herself ;  quoting  their  sayings,  pointing  out  how 
they  would  have  acted  in  any  given  case,  and  al- 
ways, it  appeared,  they  had  done  exactly  what  Hil- 
ton desired.  Susie's  admiration  for  duchesses  was 
slavish,  and  Hilton  was  treated  with  an  indulgent 
liberality  that  was  absurd  compared  to  the  stingi- 
ness displayed  towards  everyone  else.  Hilton  was 
not  more  horrified  than  her  mistress  when  she  saw 
the  farm  cart,  and  understood  that  it  was  for  the 
luggage  and  the  maid.  It  was  impossible  to  take 
her  with  them  in  what  the  porter  called  the  herr- 
schaftliche  Wagen,  for  it  was  a  kind  of  victoria, 
and  how  to  get  their  four  selves  into  it  was  a  suf- 


56  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ficlent  puzzle.     "  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  said  Susie, 
in  despair,  to  Anna. 

"  Do  ?  Why,  she'll  have  to  go  in  it.  Hilton, 
don't  be  a  foolish  person,  and  don't  keep  us  here 
in  the  wet.  This  isn't  England,  and  nobody 
thinks  anything  here  of  driving  in  farm  carts.  It 
is  patriarchal  simplicity,  that's  all.  People  are 
staring  at  you  now  because  you  are  making  such 
a  fuss.     Get  in  like  a  good  soul,  and  let  us  start." 

"  Only  as  a  corpse,  m'm,"  reiterated  Hilton  with 
chattering  teeth,  "  never  as  a  living  body." 

"  Nonsense,"  said  Anna  impatiently. 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  repeated  Susie.  "  Poor 
Hilton  —  what  barbarians  they  must  be  here." 

"  We  must  send  her  in  a  Droschky,  then,  if  it 
isn't  too  far,  and  we  can  get  one  to  go." 

"  A  Droschky  all  that  distance !  It  will  be 
ruinous." 

"  Well,  we  can't  stand  here  amusing  these  peo- 
ple for  ever." 

"  Oh,  I  wish  we  had  never  come  to  this  horrible 
place!  "  cried  Susie,  really  made  miserable  by  Hil- 
ton's rage. 

But  Anna  did  not  stay  to  listen  either  to  her 
laments  or  to  Hilton's  monotonous  "  Only  as  a 
corpse,  m'lady,"  and  was  already  arranging  with  an 
unwilling  driver,  who  had  no  desire  whatever  to 
drive  to  Kleinwalde,  but  consented  to  do  so  on 
being  promised  twenty  marks,  a  rest  and  feed  of 
oats  for  his  horses,  and  any  little  addition  in  the 
shape  of  refreshment  and  extra  money  that  might 
suggest  itself  to  Anna's  generosity. 

"  You  know,  Anna,  you  can't  expect  me  to  pay 
for  the  fly,"  said  Susie  uneasily,  when  the  appeased 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  57 

Hilton  had  been  put  into  it  and  was  out  of  ear- 
shot. "  That  dreadful  cart  is  your  property,  I 
suppose." 

"  Of  course  it  is,"  said  Anna,  smiling,  "  and  of 
course  the  fly  is  my  affair.  How  magnificent  I 
feel,  disposing  of  carts  and  Droschkies.  Now,  will 
you  please  to  get  into  my  carriage?  And  do  you 
observe  the  extreme  respectfulness  of  my  coach- 
man  r 

The  coachman,  a  strange-looking,  round-shoul- 
dered being,  with  a  long  grizzled  beard,  a  dark-blue 
cloth  cap  on  his  head,  and  a  body  clothed  in  a 
fawn-coloured  suit  and  gaiters,  on  which  a  great 
many  tarnished  silver  buttons  adorned  with  Uncle 
Joachim's  coat  of  arms  were  fastened  at  short  in- 
tervals, removed  his  cap  while  his  new  mistress 
and  her  party  were  entering  the  carriage,  and  did 
not  put  it  on  again  till  they  were  ready  to  start. 

"  Quite  as  though  we  were  royalties,"  said 
Susie. 

"  But  the  rest  of  him  isn't,"  replied  Anna,  who 
was  greatly  amused  by  the  turn-out.  "  Do  you 
like  my  horses,  Susie  ?  Or  do  you  suspect  them 
of  having  been  ploughing  all  the  morning  ?  Oh, 
well,"  she  added  quickly,  ashamed  of  laughing  at 
any  part  of  her  dear  uncle's  gift,  "  I  suppose  one 
has  to  have  heavily  built  horses  in  this  part  of  the 
w^orld,  where  the  roads  are  probably  frightfully 
bad." 

"Their  tails  might  be  a  little  shorter,"  said 
Susie. 

"  They  might,"  agreed  Anna  serenely. 

With  the  aid  of  the  porter,  who  knew  all  about 
Uncle  Joachim's  will  and  was  deeply  interested, 


58  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

they  were  at  last  somehow  packed  into  the  car- 
riage, and  away  they  rattled  over  the  rough  stones, 
threadins:  the  outskirts  of  the  town  on  the  main- 
land,  the  hail  and  wind  in  their  faces,  out  into 
the  open  country,  with  their  horses'  heads  turned 
towards  the  north.  The  fly  containing  Hilton  fol- 
lowed more  leisurely  behind,  and  the  farm  cart  con- 
taining the  unused  sack  of  straw  followed  the  fly. 

"  We  can't  see  much  of  Stralsund,"  said  Anna, 
trying  to  peep  round  the  hood  at  the  old  town 
across  the  lakes  separating  it  from  the  mainland. 

"  It's  a  very  historical  town,"  observed  Susie, 
who  had  happened  to  notice,  as  she  idly  turned 
over  the  pages  of  her  Baedeker  on  the  way  down, 
that  there  was  a  long  description  of  it  with  dates. 
"  As  of  course  you  know,"  she  added,  turning 
sharply  to  her  daughter. 

"  Rather,"  said  Letty.  "  Wallenstein  said  he'd 
take  it  if  it  were  chained  to  heaven,  and  when  he 
found  it  wasn't  he  was  frightfully  sick,  and  went 
away  and  left  them  all  in  the  fields." 

Miss  Leech,  who  was  on  the  little  seat,  strug- 
gling to  defend  herself  from  the  fury  of  the  ele- 
ments with  an  umbrella,  looked  anxious,  but  Susie 
only  said  in  a  gratified  voice,  "  I'm  glad  you  remem- 
ber what  you've  been  taught."  To  which  Letty, 
who  was  in  great  spirits,  and  thought  this  drive 
in  the  wet  huge  fun,  again  replied  heartily, 
"  Rather,"  and  her  mother  congratulated  herself 
on  having  done  the  right  thing  in  bringing  her 
to  Germany,  home  of  erudition  and  profundity, 
already  evidently  beginning  to  do  its  work. 

The  carriage  smelt  of  fish,  which  presently  up- 
set Susie,  who,  unfortunately  for  her,  had  a  nose 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  59 

that  smelt  everything.  While  they  were  in  the 
town  she  thought  the  smell  was  in  the  streets,  and 
bore  it ;  but  out  in  the  open,  where  there  was  not 
a  house  to  be  seen,  she  found  that  it  was  in  the 
carriage. 

She  fidgeted,  and  looked  about,  feeling  with  her 
foot  under  the  opposite  seat,  expecting  to  find  a 
basket  somewhere,  and  determined  if  she  found 
one  to  push  it. out  quietly  and  say  nothing;  for 
that  she  should  drive  for  two  hours  with  her  hand- 
kerchief up  to  her  nose  was  more  than  anybody 
could  expect  of  her.  Already  she  had  done  more 
than  anybody  ought  to  expect  of  her,  she  reflected, 
in  going  to  the  expense  of  the  journey  and  the  in- 
convenience of  the  absence  from  home  for  Anna's 
sake,  and  she  hoped  that  Anna  felt  grateful.  She 
had  never  yet  shrunk  from  her  duty  towards  Anna, 
or  indeed  from  her  duty  towards  anyone,  and  she 
was  sure  she  never  would ;  but  her  duty  certainly 
did  not  include  the  passive  endurance  of  offensive 
smells. 

"  What  are  you  looking  for  .^  "  asked  Anna. 

"  Why,  the  fish." 

"  Oh,  do  you  smell  it  too  ?  " 

"Smell  it.?     I  should  think  I  did.      It's  killing 


me." 


"  Oh,  poor  Susie ! "  laughed  Anna,  who  was 
possessed  by  an  uncontrollable  desire  to  laugh  at 
everything.  The  conveyance  (it  could  hardly  be 
called  a  carriage)  in  which  they  were  seated,  and 
which  she  supposed  was  the  one  destined  for  her 
use  if  she  lived  at  Kleinwalde,  was  unlike  any- 
thing she  had  yet  seen.  It  was  very  old,  with 
enormous  wheels,  and  bumped  dreadfully,  and  the 


6o  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

seat  was  so  constructed  that  she  was  continually 
slipping  forward  and  having  to  push  herself  back 
again.  It  was  lined  throughout,  including  the 
hood,  with  a  white  and  black  shepherd's  plaid  in 
large  squares,  the  white  squares  mellowed  by  the 
stains  of  use  and  time  to  varying  shades  of  brown 
and  yellow ;  when  Miss  Leech's  umbrella  was 
blown  aside  by  a  gust  of  wind  Anna  could  see 
her  coachman's  drab  coat,  with  a  little  end  of 
white  tape  that  he  had  forgotten  to  tie,  and  whose 
uses  she  was  unable  to  guess,  fluttering  gaily 
between  its  tails  in  the  wind ;  on  the  left  side  of 
the  box  was  a  very  big  and  gorgeous  coat  of  arms 
in  green  and  white,  Uncle  Joachim's  colours;  and 
whichever  way  she  turned  her  head,  there  was  the 
overpowering  smell  of  fish.  "  We  must  be  taking 
our  dinner  home  with  us,"  she  said,  "  but  I  don't 
see  it  anywhere." 

"  There  isn't  anything  under  the  seats.  Per- 
haps the  man  has  got  it  on  the  box.  Ask  him, 
Anna ;   I  really  can't  stand  it." 

Anna  did  not  quite  know  how  to  attract  his 
attention.  It  seemed  undignified  to  poke  him, 
but  she  did  not  know  his  name,  and  the  wind 
blew  her  voice  back  in  the  direction  of  Stralsund 
when  she  had  cleared  it,  and  coughed,  and  called 
out  rather  shyly,  "  Oh,  Kutscherl  Kutscker !'' 

Then  she  remembered  that  oh  was  not  German, 
and  that  Uncle  Joachim  had  used  sonorous  achs 
in  its  place,  and  she  began  again,  "  Ack,  Kutscherl 
Kutscherr' 

Letty  giggled.  "  Go  it,  Aunt  Anna,"  she  said 
encouragingly,  "  dig  him  in  the  ribs  with  your 
umbrella  —  or  I  will,  if  you  like." 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  6i 

Her  mother,  with  her  handkerchief  to  her  nose, 
exhorted  her  not  to  be  vulgar.  Letty  explained 
at  some  length  that  she  was  only  being  nice,  and 
offering  assistance. 

"  I  really  shall  have  to  poke  him,"  said  Anna, 
her  faint  cries  of  Kutscher  (\\i\\.^  lost  in  the  rattling 
of  the  carriage  and  the  howling  of  the  wind.  "  Or 
perhaps  you  would  touch  his  arm,  Miss  Leech." 

Miss  Leech  turned,  and  very  gingerly  touched 
his  sleeve.  He  at  once  whistled  to  his  horses, 
who  stopped  dead,  snatched  off  his  cap,  and  look- 
ing down  at  Anna  inquired  her  commands. 

It  was  done  so  quickly  that  Anna,  whose  con- 
versational German  was  exceedingly  rusty,  was 
quite  unable  to  remember  the  word  for  fish,  and 
sat  looking  up  at  him  helplessly,  while  she  vainly 
searched  her  brains. 

"  What  is  fish  in  German  }  "  she  said,  appealing 
to  Susie,  distressed  that  the  man  should  be  wait- 
ing capless  in  the  rain. 

"  Letty,  w^hat's  the  word  for  fish }  "  inquired 
Susie  sternly. 

"  Fish  ?  "  repeated  Letty,  looking  stupid. 

"  Fish  }  "  echoed  Miss  Leech,  trying  to  help. 

''  Fisc/i?'-  said  the  coachman  himself,  catching 
at  the  word. 

"  Oh,  yes ;  how  utterly  silly  I  am,"  cried  Anna 
blushing  and  showing  her  dimples,  "  it's  Fisch,  of 
course.     Kutscher,  wo  ist  Fisch  ?  " 

The  man  looked  blank;  then  his  face  bright- 
ened, and  pointing  with  his  whip  to  the  rolling 
sea  on  their  right,  visible  across  the  flat  interven- 
ing fields,  he  said  that  there  was  much  fish  in  it, 
especially  herrings. 


62  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

*'  What  does  he  say  ?  "  asked  Susie  from  behind 
her  handkerchief. 

"  He  says  there  are  herrings  in  the  sea." 

"  Is  the  man  a  fool  ?  " 

Letty  laughed  uproariously.  The  coachman, 
seeing  Letty  and  Anna  laugh,  thought  he  must 
have  said  the  right  thing  after  all,  and  looked 
very  pleasant. 

'' Aber  im  Wagen^'  persisted  Anna,  ''wo  ist 
Fisch  im    Wage^i  ?  " 

The  coachman  stared.  Then  he  said  vaguely, 
in  a  soothing  voice,  not  in  the  least  knowing 
what  she  meant,  "  Nem,  nei7i,  gnddiges  Fraulein^' 
and  evidently  hoped  she  would  be  satisfied. 

'' Aber  es  riecht,  es  riechtr'  cried  Anna,  not 
satisfied  at  all,  and  lifting  up  her  nose  in  unmis- 
takeable  displeasure. 

His  face  brightened  again.  "  Ach  so — jawohl, 
jawohll'  he  exclaimed  cheerfully  ;  and  hastened  to 
explain  that  there  were  no  fish  nearer  than  the 
sea,  but  that  the  grease  he  had  used  that  morning 
to  make  the  leather  of  the  hood  and  apron  shine 
certainly  had  a  fishy  smell,  as  he  himself  had 
noticed.  "  The  gracious  Miss  loves  not  the 
smell?"  he  inquired  anxiously;  for  he  had  seven 
children,  and  was  very  desirous  that  his  new 
mistress  should   be  pleased. 

Anna  laughed  and  shook  her  head,  and  though 
she  said  with  great  emphasis  that  she  did  not  love 
it  at  all,  she  looked  so  friendly  that  he  felt  reas- 
sured. 

"  What  does  he  say  ?  "   asked  Susie. 

"  Why,  I'm  afraid  we  shall  have  it  all  the  way. 
It's  the  grease  he's  been  rubbing  the  leather  with." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  63 

"  Barbarian ! "  cried  Susie  angrily,  feeling  sick 
already,  and  certain  that  she  would  be  quite  ill 
by  the  end  of  the  drive.  "  And  you  laugh  at  him 
and  encourage  him,  instead  of  taking  up  your 
position  at  once  and  showing  him  that  you  won't 
stand  any  nonsense.  He  ought  to  be  —  to  be 
unboxed  !  "  she  added  in  great  wrath  ;  for  she  had 
heard  of  delinquent  clergymen  being  unfrocked, 
and  why  should  not  delinquent  coachmen  be 
unboxed? 

Anna  laughed  again.  She  tried  not  to,  but  she 
could  not  help  it;  and  Susie,  made  still  more 
angry  by  this  childish  behaviour,  sulked  during 
the  rest  of  the  drive. 

"  Go  on  —  avanti!''  said  Anna,  who  knew  hardly 
any  Italian,  and  when  she  was  in  Italy  and  wanted 
her  words  never  could  find  them,  but  had  been 
troubled  the  last  two  days  by  the  way  in  which 
these  words  came  to  her  lips  every  time  she 
opened  them  to  speak  German. 

The  coachman  understood  her,  however,  and 
they  went  on  again  along  the  straight  high-road, 
that  stretched  away  before  them  to  a  distant  bend. 
The  high-road,  or  chaussee,  was  planted  on  either 
side  with  maples,  and  between  the  maples  big 
whitewashed  stones  had  been  set  to  mark  the 
way  at  night,  and  behind  the  rows  of  trees  and 
stones,  ditches  had  been  dug  parallel  with  the 
road  as  a  protection  to  the  crops  in  summer 
from  the  possible  wanderings  of  erring  carts.  If 
a  cart  erred,  it  tumbled  into  the  ditch.  The  ar- 
rangement was  simple  and  efficacious.  On  the 
right,  across  some  marshy  land,  they  could  see  the 
sea  for  a  little  while,  with  the  flat  coast  of  Riigen 


64  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

opposite ;  and  then  some  rising  ground,  bare  of 
trees  and  brilliantly  green  with  winter  corn,  hid  it 
from  view.  On  the  left  was  the  dreary  plain,  dotted 
at  long  intervals  with  farms  and  their  little  groups 
of  trees,  and  here  and  there  with  windmills  work- 
ing furiously  in  the  gale.  The  wind  was  icy,  and 
the  December  snow  still  lay  in  drifts  in  the  ditches. 
In  that  leaden  landscape,  made  up  of  grey  and 
brown  and  black,  the  patches  of  winter  rye  were 
quite  startling  in  their  greenness. 

Susie  thought  it  the  most  God-forsaken  coun- 
try she  had  ever  seen,  and  expressed  this  opinion 
plainly  on  her  face  and  in  her  attitudes  without 
any  need  for  opening  her  lips,  shuddering  back 
ostentatiously  into  her  corner,  wrapping  herself 
with  elaborate  care  in  her  furs,  and  behaving  as 
slaves  to  duty  sometimes  do  when  the  paths  they 
have  to  tread  are  rough. 

After  driving  along  the  chaussee  for  about  an 
hour,  they  passed  a  big  house  standing  among 
trees  back  from  the  road  on  the  right,  and  a  little 
farther  on  came  to  a  small  village.  The  carriage 
pulled  up  with  a  jerk,  and  looking  eagerly  round 
the  hood  Anna  found  they  had  come  to  a  stand- 
still in  front  of  a  new  red-brick  building,  whose 
steps  were  crowded  with  children.  Two  or  three 
men  and  some  women  were  with  the  children. 
Two  of  the  men  appeared  to  be  clergymen,  and 
the  elder,  a  middle-aged,  mild-faced  man,  came 
down  the  steps,  and  bowing  profoundly  pro- 
ceeded to  welcome  Anna  solemnly,  on  behalf  of 
those  children  from  Kleinwalde  who  attended  this 
school,  to  her  new  home.  He  concluded  that 
Anna  was  the  person  to  be  welcomed  because  he 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  65 

could  see  nothing  of  the  lady  in  the  other  cor- 
ner but  her  eyes,  and  they  looked  anything  but 
friendly;  whereas  the  young  lady  on  the  left  was 
leaning  forward  and  smiling  and  holding  out 
her  hand. 

He  took  it,  and  shook  it  slowly  up  and  down, 
while  he  begged  her  to  allow  the  hood  of  the 
carriage  to  be  put  back,  so  that  the  children  from 
her  village,  who  had  walked  three  miles  to  welcome 
her,  might  be  able  to  see  her;  and  on  Anna's 
readily  agreeing  to  this,  himself  helped  the  coach- 
man with  his  own  white-gloved  hands  to  put  it 
down.  Susie  was  therefore  exposed  to  the  full 
fury  of  the  blast,  and  shrank  still  farther  into  her 
corner  —  an  interesting  and  tantalising  object  to 
the  school-children,  a  dark,  mysterious  combina- 
tion of  fur,  cocks'  feathers,  and  black  eyebrows. 

Then  the  clergyman,  hat  in  hand,  made  a  speech. 
He  spoke  distinctly,  as  one  accustomed  to  speak- 
ing often  and  long,  and  Anna  understood  every 
word.  She  was  wholly  taken  aback  by  these 
ceremonies,  and  had  no  idea  of  what  she  should 
say  in  reply,  but  sat  smiling  vaguely  at  him,  look- 
ing very  pretty  and  very  shy.  She  soon  found 
that  her  smiles  were  inappropriate,  and  they  died 
away ;  for,  warming  as  he  proceeded,  the  parson, 
it  appeared,  was  taking  it  for  granted  that  she 
intended  to  live  on  her  property,  and  was  elo- 
quently descanting  on  the  comfort  she  was  going 
to  be  to  the  poor,  assuring  those  present  that  she 
would  be  a  mother  to  the  sick,  nursing  them  with 
her  tender  woman's  hands,  an  angel  of  mercy  to 
the  hungry,  feeding  them  in  the  hour  of  their  dis- 
tress, a  friend  and  sister  to  the  little   children, 


66  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

succouring  them,  caring  for  them,  pitiful  of  their 
weakness  and  their  sins.  His  face  lit  up  with 
enthusiasm  as  he  went  on,  and  Anna  was  thankful 
that  Susie  could  not  understand.  This  crowd  of 
children,  the  women,  the  young  parson,  her  coach- 
man, were  all  hearing  promises  made  on  her  behalf 
that  she  had  no  thought  of  fulfilling.  She  looked 
down,  and  twisted  her  fingers  about  nervously, 
and  felt  uncomfortable. 

At  the  end  of  his  speech,  the  parson,  his  eyes 
full  of  the  tears  drawn  forth  by  his  own  eloquence, 
held  up  his  hand  and  solemnly  blessed  her,  round- 
ing off  his  blessing  with  a  loud  Amen,  after  which 
there  was  an  awkward  pause.  Susie  heard  the 
Amen,  and  guessed  that  something  in  the  nature 
of  a  iDlessing  was  being  invoked,  and  made  a 
movement  of  impatience.  The  parson  was 
odious  in  her  eyes,  first  because  he  looked  like 
the  ministers  of  the  Baptist  chapels  of  her  un- 
married youth,  but  principally  because  he  was 
keeping  her  there  in  the  gale  and  prolonging  the 
tortures  she  was  enduring  from  the  smell  of  fish. 
Anna  did  not  know  what  to  say  after  the  Amen, 
and  looked  up  more  shyly  than  ever,  and  stam- 
mered in  her  confusion  Danke  sehr,  hoping  that 
it  was  a  proper  remark  to  make ;  whereupon  the 
parson  bowed  again,  as  one  who  should  say  Pray 
don't  mention  it.  Then  another  man,  evidently 
the  schoolmaster,  took  out  a  tuning-fork,  gave 
out  a  note,  and  the  children  sang  a  chorale,  fol- 
lowing it  up  with  other  more  cheerful  songs,  in 
which  the  words  Fruhling  and  Willkommen  were 
repeated  a  great  many  times,  while  the  wind  howled 
flattest  contradiction. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  67 

When  this  was  over,  the  parson  begged  leave 
to  introduce  the  other  clerical-looking  person,  a 
tall  narrow  youth,  also  in  white  kid  gloves,  but- 
toned up  tightly  in  a  long  coat  of  broadcloth,  with 
a  pallid  face  and  thick,  upright  flaxen  hair. 

"  Herr  Vicar  Klutz,"  said  the  elder  parson,  with 
a  w^ave  of  the  hand  ;  and  the  Herr  Vicar,  making 
his  bow,  and  having  his  limp  hand  heartily  grasped 
by  that  other  little  hand,  and  his  furtive  eyes 
smiled  into  by  those  other  friendly  eyes,  became 
on  the  spot  desperately  enamoured;  which  was 
very  natural,  seeing  that  he  had  not  spoken  to  a 
woman  under  forty  for  six  months,  and  was  him- 
self twenty  and  a  poet.  He  spent  the  rest  of  the 
afternoon  shut  up  in  his  bedroom,  where,  refusing 
all  nourishment,  he  composed  a  poem  in  which 
berauschten  Sinn  was  made  to  rhyme  with  Eng- 
Idnderin,  while  the  elder  parson,  in  whose  house 
he  lived,  thought  he  was  writing  his  Good  Friday 
sermon. 

Then  the  schoolmaster  was  introduced,  and 
then  came  the  two  women  —  the  schoolmaster's 
wife  and  the  parson's  wife ;  and  when  Anna  had 
smiled  and  murmured  polite  and  incoherent  little 
speeches  to  each  in  turn,  and  had  nodded  and 
bowed  at  least  a  dozen  times  to  each  of  these 
ladies,  who  could  by  no  means  have  done  with 
their  curtseys,  and  had  introduced  them  to  the 
dumb  figure  in  the  corner,  during  which  cere- 
monies Letty  stared  round-eyed  and  open-mouthed 
at  the  school-children,  and  the  school-children 
stared  round-eyed  and  open-mouthed  at  Letty, 
and  Miss  Leech  looked  demure,  and  Susie's  brows 
were    contracted     by    suffering,    she    wondered 


68  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

whether  she  might  not  now  with  propriety  con- 
tinue her  journey,  and  if  so  whether  it  were  ex- 
pected that  she  should  give  the  signal. 

Everybody  was  smiling  at  everybody  else  by 
way  of  filling  up  this  pause  of  hesitation,  except 
Susie,  who  shut  her  eyes  with  great  dignity,  and 
shivered  in  so  marked  a  manner  that  the  parson 
himself  came  to  the  rescue,  and  bade  the  coach- 
man help  him  put  up  the  hood  again,  explaining 
to  Anna  as  he  did  so  that  her  Frau  Schwester 
was  not  used  to  the  climate. 

Evidently  the  moment  had  come  for  going  on, 
and  the  bows  that  had  but  just  left  off  began  again 
with  renewed  vigour.  Anna  was  anxious  to  say 
something  pleasant  at  the  finish,  so  she  asked  the 
parson's  wife,  as  she  bade  her  good-bye,  whether 
she  and  her  husband  would  come  to  Kleinwalde 
the  next  day  to  dinner. 

This  invitation  produced  a  very  deep  curtsey 
and  a  flush  of  gratification,  but  the  recipient 
turned  to  her  lord  before  accepting  it,  to  inquire 
his  pleasure. 

"  I  fear  not  to-morrow,  gracious  Miss,"  said  the 
parson,  "  for  it  is  Good  Friday." 

''  Achjal'  stammered  Anna,  ashamed  of  herself 
for  having  forgotten. 

"  Achja''  exclaimed  the  parson's  wife,  still  more 
ashamed  of  herself  for  having  forgotten. 

"  Perhaps  Saturday,  then  1  "  suggested  Anna. 
The  parson  murmured  something  about  quiet 
hours  preparatory  to  the  Sabbath ;  but  his  wife,  a 
person  who  struck  Anna  as  being  quite  extraor- 
dinarily stout,  was  burning  with  curiosity  to  ex- 
amine  those   foreign   ladies   more   conveniently, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  69 

and  especially  to  see  what  manner  of  being  would 
emerge  from  the  pile  of  fur  and  feathers  in  the 
corner;  and  she  urged  him,  in  a  rapid  aside,  to 
do  for  once  without  quiet  hours.  Whereupon  he 
patted  her  on  the  cheek,  smiled  indulgently,  and 
said  he  would  make  an  exception  and  do  himself 
the  honour  of  appearing. 

This  being  settled,  Anna  said  Gehen  Sie  to  her 
coachman,  who  again  showed  his  intelligence  by 
understanding  her;  and  in  a  cloud  of  smiles  and 
bows  they  drove  away,  the  school-girls  making 
curtseys,  the  schoolboys  taking  off  their  caps,  and 
the  parson  standing  hat  in  hand  with  his  arm 
round  his  wife's  waist  as  serenely  as  though  it 
had  been  a  summer's  day  and  no  one  looking. 

Anna  became  used  to  these  displays  of  conju- 
gal regard  in  public  later  on ;  but  this  first  time 
she  turned  to  Susie  with  a  laugh,  when  the  hood 
had  hidden  the  group  from  view^  and  asked  her  if 
she  had  seen  it.  But  Susie  had  seen  nothing,  for 
her  eyes  were  shut,  and  she  refused  to  answer  any 
questions  otherwise  than  by  a  feeble  shake  of  the 
head. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  village  the  chaussee 
came  to  an  end,  and  two  deep,  sandy  roads  took 
its  place.  There  was  a  sign-post  at  their  junc- 
tion, one  arm  of  which,  pointing  to  the  right-hand 
road  that  ran  down  close  to  the  sea,  had  Klein- 
walde  scrawled  on  it ;  and  beside  this  sign-post  a 
man  on  a  horse  was  waiting  for  them. 

"  Good  gracious  !  More  rot }  "  ejaculated  Susie 
as  the  carriage  stopped  again,  shaken  out  of  the 
dignity  of  sulks  by  these  repeated  shocks. 

"  Oberinspector  Dellwig,"  said  the  man,  intro- 


TO  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ducing  himself,  and  sweeping  off  his  hat  and 
bowing  lower  and  more  obsequiously  than  any- 
one had  yet  done. 

"  This  must  be  the  inspector  Uncle  Joachim 
hoped  I'd  keep,"  said  Anna  in  an  undertone. 

"  I  don't  care  who  he  is,  but  for  heaven's  sake 
don't  let  him  make  a  speech.  I  can't  stand  this 
sort  of  thing  any  longer.  You'll  have  me  ill  on 
your  hands  if  you're  not  careful,  and  you  won't 
like  that,  so  you  had  better  stop  him." 

"  I  can't  stop  him,"  said  Anna,  perplexed.  She 
also  had  had  enough  of  speeches. 

"  Gestatten  gn'ddiges  Fr'dulein  dass  ich  meine 
gehorsamste  Ehrerbietung  ausspreche^'  began  the 
glib  inspector,  bowing  at  every  second  word  over 
his  horse's  ears. 

There  was  no  escape,  and  they  had  to  hear  him 
out.  The  man  had  prepared  his  speech,  and  say 
it  he  would.  It  was  not  so  long  as  the  parson's, 
but  was  quite  as  flowery  in  another  way,  over- 
flowing with  respectful  allusions  to  the  deceased 
master,  and  with  expressions  of  unbounded  loy- 
alty, obedience,  and  devotion  to  the  new  mistress. 

Susie  shut  her  eyes  again  when  she  found  he 
was  not  to  be  stopped,  and  gave  herself  up  for 
lost.  What  could  Hilton,  who  must  be  close 
behind  waiting  in  the  cold,  uncomforted  by  any 
food  since  leaving  Berlin,  think  of  all  this.^^  Susie 
dreaded  the  moment  when  she  would  have  to  face 
her. 

The  inspector  finished  all  he  had  intended  say- 
ing, and  then,  assuming  a  more  colloquial  tone, 
informed  Anna  that  from  the  sign-post  onward 
she  would  be  driving  through  her  own  property, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  71 

and  asked  permission  to  ride  by  her  side  the  rest 
of  the  way.  So  they  had  his  company  for  the  last 
two  miles  and  his  conversation,  of  which  there  was 
much ;  for  he  had  a  ready  tongue,  and  explained 
things  to  Anna  in  a  very  loud  voice  as  they  went 
along,  expatiating  on  the  magnificence  of  the 
crops  the  previous  summer,  and  assuring  her  that 
the  crops  of  the  coming  summer  would  be  even 
more  magnificent,  for  he  had  invented  a  combina- 
tion of  manures  which  would  give  such  results 
that  all  Pomerania's  breath  would  be  taken  away. 
The  road  here  was  terrible,  and  the  horses  could 
hardly  drag  the  carriage  through  the  sand.  It 
lurched  and  heaved  from  side  to  side,  creaking 
and  groaning  alarmingly.  Miss  Leech  was  in 
imminent  peril.  Anna  held  on  with  both  hands, 
and  hardly  had  leisure  to  put  in  appropriate  achs 
2ind  jas  and  questions  of  a  becoming  intelligence 
when  the  inspector  paused  to  take  breath.  She 
did  not  like  his  looks,  and  wished  that  she  could 
follow  Susie's  example  and  avoid  the  necessity  of 
seeing  him  by  the  simple  expedient  of  shutting 
her  eyes.  But  somehow,  she  did  not  quite  know 
how,  responsibilities  and  obligations  were  sud- 
denly pressing  heavily  upon  her.  These  people 
had  all  made  up  their  minds  that  she  was  going 
to  be  and  do  certain  things ;  and  though  she  as- 
sured herself  that  it  did  not  in  the  least  matter 
how  they  had  made  up  their  minds,  yet  she  felt 
obliged  to  behave  in  the  way  that  was  expected 
of  her.  She  did  not  want  to  talk  to  this  unpleas- 
ant-looking man,  and  what  he  told  her  about  the 
crops  and  their  marvellousness  was  half  unintelli- 
gible to  her  and  wholly  a  bore.     Yet  she  did  talk 


72  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

to  him,  and  looked  friendly,  and  affected  to  un- 
derstand and  be  deeply  interested  in  all  he  said. 

They  passed  through  a  plantation  of  young 
beeches,  planted,  Dellwig  explained,  by  Uncle 
Joachim  on  his  last  visit ;  and  after  a  few  more 
yards  of  lurching  in  the  sand  came  to  some 
woods  and  got  on  to  a  fair  road. 

"  The  park,"  said  Dellwig  superbly,  with  a  wave 
of  the  hand. 

Susie  opened  her  eyes  at  the  word  park,  and 
looked  about.  "  It  isn't  a  park,"  she  said  peev- 
ishly, "it's  a  forest  —  a  horrid,  gloomy,  damp  wil- 
derness." 

"  Oh,  it's  lovely !  "  cried  Letty,  giving  a  jump  of 
delight  as  she  peered  down  the  serried  ranks  of 
pine  trees. 

It  was  a  thick  wood  of  pines  and  beeches,  railed 
off  from  the  road  on  either  side  by  wooden  rails 
painted  in  black  and  white  stripes.  Uncle  Joachim 
had  been  the  loyalest  of  Prussians,  and  his  loyalty 
overflowed  even  into  his  fences.  Esthetic  in- 
stincts he  had  none,  and  if  he  had  been  brought 
to  see  it,  would  not  have  cared  at  all  that  the  rail- 
ings made  the  otherwise  beautiful  avenue  look  like 
the  entrance  to  a  restaurant  or  a  railway  station. 
The  stripes,  renewed  every  year,  and  of  startling 
distinctness,  were  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of 
his  staunch  devotion  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  the 
very  lining  of  the  carriage  with  its  white  and 
black  squares  was  symbolic  ;  and  when  they  came 
to  the  gate  within  which  the  house  itself  stood, 
two  Prussian  eagles  frowned  down  at  them  from 
the  gate-posts. 


CHAPTER   VI 

A  LOW,  white,  two-storied  house,  separated  from 
the  forest  only  by  a  circular  grass  plot  and  a  ditch 
with  half-melted  snow  in  it  and  muddy  water,  ^ 
house  apparently  quite  by  itself  among  the  creak- 
ing pines,  neither  very  old  nor  very  new,  with  a 
great  many  windows,  and  a  brown-tiled  roof,  was 
the  home  bestowed  by  Uncle  Joachim  on  his  dear 
and  only  niece  Anna. 

"  So  ^/iis  is  where  I  was  to  lead  the  better  life?" 
she  thought,  as  the  carriage  drew  up  at  the  door, 
and  the  moaning  of  the  uneasy  trees,  and  all  the 
lonely  sounds  of  a  storm-beaten  forest  replaced 
the  rattling  of  the  wheels  in  her  ears.  "  The  better 
life,  then,  is  a  life  of  utter  solitude.  Uncle  Joachim 

thought  ?     I  wish  I  knew  —  I  wish  I  knew " 

But  what  it  was  she  wished  she  knew  was  hardly 
clear  in  her  mind ;  and  her  thoughts  were  inter- 
rupted by  a  very  untidy,  surprised-looking  maid- 
servant, capless,  and  in  felt  slippers,  who  had  darted 
down  the  steps  and  was  unfastening  the  leather 
apron  and  pulling  out  the  rugs  with  hasty,  agitated 
hands,  and  trying  to  pull  Susie  out  as  well. 

The  doorway  was  garlanded  with  evergreen 
wreaths,  over  which  a  green  and  white  flag  flapped ; 
and  curtseying  and  smiling  beneath  the  wreaths 
stood  Dell  wig's  wife,  a  short  lady  with  smooth  hair, 
weather-beaten  face,  and  brown  silk  gloves,  who 

73 


74  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

would  have  been  the  stoutest  person  Anna  had  ever 
seen  if  she  had  not  just  come  from  the  presence 
of  the  parson's  wife. 

"  I  never  saw  so  many  bows  in  my  Hfe,"  grumbled 
Susie,  pushing  the  servant  aside,  and  getting  out 
cautiously,  feeling  very  stiff  and  cold  and  miserable. 
"  Letty,  you  are  on  my  dress  —  oh,  how  d'you  do  — 
how  d'you  do,"  she  murmured  frostily,  as  the  Frau 
Inspector  seized  her  hand  and  began  to  talk  Ger- 
man to  her.  "  Anna, are  you  coming?  This  —  er  — 
person  thinks  I'm  you,  and  is  making  me  a  speech." 

Dellwig,  who  had  sent  his  horse  away  in  charge 
of  a  small  boy,  rapidly  explained  to  his  wife  that 
the  young  lady  now  getting  out  of  the  carriage  was 
their  late  master's  niece,  and  that  the  other  one 
must  be  the  sister-in-law  mentioned  in  the  lawyer's 
letter;  upon  which  Frau  Dellwig  let  Susie  go,  and 
transferred  her  smiles  and  welcome  to  Anna.  Susie 
went  into  the  house  to  get  out  of  the  cold,  only  to 
find  herself  in  a  square  hall  whose  iciness  was  the 
intolerable  iciness  of  a  place  in  which  no  sun  had 
been  allowed  to  shine  and  no  windows  had  been 
opened  for  summers  without  number.  When 
Uncle  Joachim  came  down  he  lived  in  two  rooms 
at  the  back  of  the  house,  with  a  door  leading  into 
the  garden  through  which  he  went  to  the  farm, 
and  the  hall  had  never  been  used,  and  the  closed 
shutters  never  opened.  There  was  no  fireplace, 
or  stove,  or  heating  arrangement  of  any  sort. 
Glass  doors  divided  it  from  an  inner  and  still 
more  spacious  hall,  with  a  wide  wooden  staircase, 
and  doors  all  round  it.  The  walls  in  both  halls 
were  painted  grass  green ;  and  from  little  chains 
in  the  ceiling  stuffed  hawks  and  eagles,  shot  by 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  75 

Uncle  Joachim,  and  grown  with  years  very  dusty 
and  moth-eaten,  hung  swinging  in  the  draught.  The 
floor  was  boarded,  and  was  still  damp  from  a  recent 
scrubbing.  There  was  no  carpet.  A  wooden  bracket 
on  the  wall,  with  brass  hooks,  held  a  large  assort- 
ment of  whips  and  hunting  crops ;  and  in  one 
corner  stood  an  arrangement  for  coats,  with  Uncle 
Joachim's  various  waterproofs  and  head-coverings 
hanging  monumentally  on  its  pegs. 

"  Oh,  how^  dreadful !  "  thought  Susie,  shivering 
more  violently  than  ever.  "  And  w^hat  a  musty 
smell  —  it's  damp,  of  course,  and  I  shall  be  laid  up. 
Poor  Hilton  !  What  will  she  think  of  this  ?  Oh, 
how  d'you  do,"  she  added  aloud,  as  a  female  figure 
in  a  white  apron  suddenly  emerged  from  the  gloom 
and  took  her  hand  and  kissed  it ;  "  Anna,  w^ho's 
this  ?  Anna  !  Aren't  you  coming  ?  Here's  some- 
body kissing  my  hand." 

"  It's  the  cook,"  said  Anna,  coming  into  the 
inner  hall  with  the  others,  Dellwig  and  his  wife 
keeping  one  on  either  side  of  her,  and  both  talking 
at  once  in  their  anxiety  to  make  a  good  impression. 

"  The  cook  ?  Then  tell  her  to  give  us  some 
food.  I  shall  die  if  I  don't  have  something  soon. 
Do  you  know  what  time  it  is  ?  Past  four.  Can't 
you  get  rid  of  these  people  ?    And  where 's  Hilton  ?  " 

Susie  hardly  seemed  to  see  the  Dellwigs,  and 
talked  to  Anna  while  they  were  talking  to  her  as 
though  they  did  not  exist.  If  Anna  felt  an  obliga- 
tion to  be  polite  to  these  different  persons  she  felt 
none  at  all.  They  did  not  understand  English,  but 
if  they  had  it  w^ould  not  have  mattered  to  her,  and 
she  would  have  gone  on  talking  about  them  as 
though  they  had  not  been  there. 


76  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Both  the  Dellwigs  had  very  loud  voices,  so  Susie 
had  to  raise  hers  in  order  to  be  heard,  and  there 
was  consequently  such  a  noise  in  the  empty,  echoing 
house,  that  after  looking  round  bewildered,  and 
trying  to  answer  everybody  at  once,  Anna  gave  it 
up,  and  stood  and  laughed. 

"  I  don't  see  anything  to  laugh  at,"  said  Susie 
crossly,  "  we  are  all  starving,  and  these  people  won't 
go." 

"  But  how  can  I  make  them  go  ?  " 

"  They're  your  servants,  I  suppose.  I  should  just 
say  that  I'd  send  for  them  when  I  wanted  them." 

"  They'd  be  very  much  astonished.  The  man  is 
so  far  from  being  my  servant  that  I  believe  he 
means  to  be  my  master." 

The  two  Dellwigs,  perplexed  by  Anna's  laughter 
when  nobody  had  said  anything  amusing,  and  un- 
easy lest  she  should  be  laughing  at  something 
about  themselves,  looked  from  her  to  Susie  sus- 
piciously, and  for  that  brief  moment  were  quiet. 

"  Wir  smd  hungrig^'  said  Anna  to  the  wife. 

"  The  food  comes  immediately,"  she  replied  ;  and 
hastened  away  with  the  cook  and  the  other  servant 
through  a  door  evidently  leading  to  the  kitchen. 

"  6^?/^ /^^//,"  continued  Anna  plaintively  to  the 
husband,  who  at  once  flung  open  another  door, 
through  which  they  saw  a  table  spread  for  dinner. 
" Bitte,  bitte','  he  said,  ushering  them  in  as  though 
the  place  belonged  to  him. 

"  Does  this  person  live  in  the  house  ? "  inquired 
Susie,  eying  him  with  little  goodwill. 

"He  told  me  he  lives  at  the  farm.  But  of 
course  he  has  always  looked  after  everything  here." 

When  they  were  all  in  the  dining-room,  driven 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  77 

in  by  Dellwig,  as  Susie  remarked,  like  a  flock  of 
sheep  by  a  shepherd  determined  to  stand  no  non- 
sense, he  helped  them  with  officious  politeness  to 
take  off  their  wraps,  and  then,  bowing  almost  to 
the  ground,  asked  permission  to  withdraw  while  the 
Herrschaften  ate,  a  permission  that  was  given  with 
alacrity,  Anna's  face  falling,  however,  upon  his  in- 
forming her  that  he  would  come  round  later  on  in 
order  to  lay  his  plans  for  the  summer  before  her. 

"  What  does  he  say  ?  "  asked  Susie,  as  the  door 
shut  behind  him. 

"  He's  coming  round  again  later  on." 

"  That  man's  going  to  be  a  nuisance  —  you  see  if 
he  isn't,"  said  Susie  with  conviction. 

"  I  believe  he  is,"  agreed  Anna,  going  over  to  the 
white  porcelain  stove  to  warm  her  hands. 

"  He's  the  limpet,  and  you're  going  to  be  the 
rock.     Don't  let  him  fleece  you  too  much." 

"  But  limpets  don't  fleece  rocks,"  said  Anna. 

"  He  wouldn't  be  able  to  fleece  me,  /  know, 
if  I  could  talk  German  as  well  as  you  do.  But  you'll 
be  soft  and  weak  and  amiable,  and  he'll  do  as  he 
likes  with  you." 

"  Soft,  and  weak,  and  amiable ! "  repeated  Anna, 
smiling  at  Susie's  adjectives,  "  why,  I  thought  I 
was  obstinate  —  you  always  said  I  was." 

"  So  you  are.  But  you  won't  be  to  that  man. 
He'll  get  round  you." 

"  Uncle  Joachim  said  he  was  excellent." 

"  Oh,  I  daresay  he  wasn't  bad  with  a  man  over 
him  who  knew  all  about  farming,  but  mark  my 
words,  jK^2^  won't  get  two  thousand  a  year  out  of  the 
place." 

Anna  was  silent.     Susie  was  invariably  shrewd 


78  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

and  sensible,  if  inclined,  Anna  thought,  to  be  over 
suspicious,  in  matters  where  money  was  concerned. 
Dell  wig's  face  was  not  one  to  inspire  confidence : 
and  his  way  of  shouting  when  he  talked,  and  of 
talking  incessantly,  was  already  intolerable  to  her. 
She  was  not  sure,  either,  that  his  wife  was  any  more 
satisfactory.  She  too  shouted,  and  Anna  detested 
noise.  The  wife  did  not  appear  again,  and  had 
evidently  gone  home  with  her  husband,  for  a  great 
silence  had  fallen  upon  the  house,  broken  only  by 
the  monotonous  sighing  of  the  forest,  and  the  pat- 
tering of  rain  against  the  window. 

The  dining-room  was  a  long  narrow  room, 
with  one  big  window  forming  its  west  end  look- 
ing out  on  to  the  grass  plot,  the  ditch,  and  the 
gate-posts  with  the  eagles  on  them.  It  was  a 
study  in  chocolate  —  brown  paper,  brown  carpet, 
brown  rep  curtains,  brown  cane  chairs.  There 
were  two  wooden  sideboards  painted  brown  facing 
each  other  down  at  the  dark  end,  with  a  collection 
of  miscellaneous  articles  on  them :  a  vinegar  cruet 
that  had  stood  there  for  years,  with  remains  of 
vinegar  dried  up  at  the  bottom  ;  mustard  pots  con- 
taining a  dark  and  wicked  mixture  that  had  once 
been  mustard ;  a  broken  hand-bell  used  at  long- 
past  dinners,  to  summon  servants  long  since  dead; 
an  old  wine  register  with  entries  in  it  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  back ;  a  mouldy  bottle  of  Worcester 
sauce,  still  boasting  on  its  label  that  it  would  im- 
part a  rehsh  to  viands  otherwise  dull ;  and  some 
charming  Dresden  china  fruit-dishes,  adorned  with 
cheerful  shepherds  and  shepherdesses,  incurable 
optimists,  persistently  pleased  with  themselves  and 
their  surroundings  through  all  the  days  and  nights 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  79 

of  all  the  cold  silent  years  that  they  had  been  smil- 
ing at  each  other  in  the  dark.  On  the  round  din- 
ner-table was  a  pot  of  lilies  of  the  valley,  enveloped 
in  crinkly  pink  tissue  paper  tied  round  with  pink 
satin  ribbon,  with  ears  of  the  paper  drawn  up  be- 
tween the  flower-stalks  to  produce  a  pleasing  con- 
trast of  pink  and  white. 

"  Well,  it's  warm  enough  here,  isn't  it  ?  "  said 
Susie,  going  round  the  room  and  examining  these 
things  with  an  interest  far  exceeding  that  called 
forth  by  the  art  treasures  of  Berlin. 

"  Rather,"  said  Letty,  answering  for  everybody, 
and  rubbing  her  hands.  She  frolicked  about  the 
room,  peeping  into  all  the  corners,  opening  the 
cupboards,  trying  the  sofa,  and  behaving  in  so 
frisky  a  fashion  that  her  mother,  who  seldom  saw 
her  at  home,  and  knew  her  only  as  a  naughty 
gloomy  girl,  turned  once  or  twice  from  the  inter- 
esting sideboards  to  stare  at  her  inquiringly 
through  her  lorgnette. 

The  servant  with  the  surprised  eyebrows,  who 
presently  brought  in  the  soup,  had  put  on  a  pair 
of  white  cotton  gloves  for  the  ceremony  of  wait- 
ing, but  still  w^ore  her  felt  slippers.  She  put  the 
plates  in  a  pile  on  the  edge  of  the  table,  mur- 
mured something  in  German,  and  ran  out  again ; 
nor  did  she  come  back  till  she  brought  the  next 
course,  when  she  behaved  in  a  precisely  similar 
manner,  and  continued  to  do  so  throughout^  the 
meal;  the  diners,  having  no  bell,  being  obliged 
to  sit  patiently  during  the  intervals,  until  she 
thought  that  they  might  perhaps  be  ready  for 
some  more. 

It  was  an  odd  meal,  and  began  with  cold  choco- 


So  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

late  soup  with  frothy  white  things  that  tasted  of 
vanilla  floating  about  in  it.  Susie  was  so  much 
interested  in  this  soup  that  she  forgot  all  about 
Hilton,  who  had  been  driven  ignominiously  to  the 
back  door  and  was  left  sitting  in  the  kitchen  till 
the  two  servants  should  have  time  to  take  her  up- 
stairs, and  was  employing  the  time  composing  a 
speech  of  a  spirited  nature  in  which  she  intended 
giving  her  mistress  notice  the  moment  she  saw 
her  again. 

Her  mistress  meanwhile  was  meditatively  turn- 
ing over  the  vanilla  balls  in  her  soup.  "  Well,  I 
don't  like  it,"  she  said  at  last,  laying  down  her 
spoon. 

"  Oh,  it's  ripping !  "  cried  her  daughter  ecstati- 
cally. "  It's  like  having  one's  pudding  at  the 
other  end." 

"  How  can  you  look  at  chocolate  after  Berlin, 
greedy  girl  ? "  asked  her  mother,  disgusted  by  her 
child's  obvious  tendency  towards  a  too  free  indul- 
gence in  the  pleasures  of  the  table.  But  Letty 
was  feeling  so  jovial  that  in  the  face  of  this  ques- 
tion she  boldly  asked  for  more  —  a  request  that 
was  refused  indignantly  and  at  once. 

There  was,; such  a  long  pause  after  the  soup 
that  in  their  hunger  they  began  to  eat  the  stewed 
apples  and  bottled  cherries  that  were  on  the  table. 
The  brown  bread,  arranged  in  thin  slices  on  a 
white  crochet  mat  in  a  japanned  dish,  felt  so 
damp  and  was  so  full  of  caraway  seeds  that  it 
was  uneatable.  After  a  while  some  roach,  caught 
on  the  estate,  and  with  a  strong  muddy  flavour 
and  bewildering  multitudes  of  bones,  was  brought 
in ;  and  after  that  came  cutlets  from  Anna's  pigs ; 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  8i 

and  after  that  a  queer  red  gelatinous  pudding  that 
tasted  of  physic  ;  and  after  that,  the  meal  being 
evidently  at  an  end,  Susie,  who  was  very  hungry, 
remarked  that  if  all  the  food  were  going  to  be  like 
those  specimens  they  had  better  return  at  once 
to  England,  or  they  would  certainly  be  starved. 
"  It's  a  good  thing  you  are  not  going  to  stay  here, 
Anna,"  she  said,  "  for  you'd  have  to  make  a  tre- 
mendous fuss  before  you'd  get  them  to  leave  off 
treating  you  like  a  pig.  Look  here  —  teaspoons 
to  eat  the  pudding  with,  and  the  same  fork  all  the 
way  through.  It's  a  beastly  hole"  —  Letty's  eye- 
brows telegraphed  triumphantly  across  to  IMiss 
Leech,  "  Well,  did  you  hear  that  ?  "  —  "  and  we 
ought  to  have  stayed  in  Berlin.  There  was  noth- 
ing to  be  gained  at  all  by  coming  here." 

"  Perhaps  the  dinner  to-night  will  be  better," 
said  Anna,  trying  to  comfort  her,  and  little  know- 
ing that  they  had  just  eaten  the  dinner;  but  people 
who  are  hungry  are  surprisingly  impervious  to  the 
influence  of  fair  words.  "  It  couldn't  be  worse, 
anyhow,  so  it  really  will  probably  be  better.  I'm 
very  glad  though  that  we  did  come,  for  I  like  it." 

"  Oh,  yes,  so  do  I,  Aunt  Anna ! "  cried  Letty. 
"  It's  frightfully  nice.  It's  like  a  picnic  that  doesn't 
leave  off.  When  are  we  going  over  the  house, 
and  out  into  the  garden  ?  I  do  so  want  to  go  — 
oh,  I  do  so  want  to  go !  "  And  she  jumped  up 
and  down  impatiently  on  her  chair,  till  her  ardour 
was  partially  quenched  by  her  mother's  forbidding 
her  to  go  out  of  doors  in  the  rain.  "  Well,  let's 
go  over  the  house,  then,"  said  Letty,  dying  to 
explore. 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  may  go  over  the  house,"  said  her 


82  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

mother  with  a  shrug  of  displeasure ;  though  why 
she  should  be  displeased  it  would  have  puzzled 
anyone  who  had  dined  satisfactorily  to  explain. 
Then  she  suddenly  remembered  Hilton,  and  with 
an  exclamation  started  off  in  search  of  her. 

The  others  put  on  their  furs  before  going  into 
the  Arctic  atmosphere  of  the  hall,  and  began  to 
explore,  spending  the  next  hour  very  pleasantly 
rambling  all  over  the  house,  while  Susie,  who  had 
found  Hilton,  remained  shut  up  in  the  bedroom 
allotted  her  till  supper  time. 

The  cook  showed  Anna  her  bedroom,  and  when 
she  had  gone,  Anna  gave  one  look  round  at  the 
evergreen  wreaths  with  which  it  was  decorated 
and  which  filled  it  with  a  pungent,  baked  smell, 
and  then  ran  out  to  see  what  her  house  was  like. 
Her  heart  was  full  of  pride  and  happiness  as  she 
wandered  about  the  rooms  and  passages.  The 
magic  word  mine  rang  in  her  ears,  and  gave  each 
piece  of  furniture  a  charm  so  ridiculously  great 
that  she  would  not  have  told  any  one  of  it  for  the 
world.  She  took  up  the  different  irrelevant  orna- 
ments that  w^re  scattered  through  the  rooms,  col-- 
lected  as  such  things  do  collect,  nobody  knew 
when  or  why,  and  she  put  them  down  again  some- 
where else,  only  because  she  had  the  right  to  alter 
things  and  she  loved  to  remind  herself  of  it.  She 
patted  the  walls  and  the  tables  as  she  passed ;  she 
smoothed  down  the  folds  of  the  curtains  with 
tender  touches ;  she  went  up  to  every  separate 
looking-glass  and  stood  in  front  of  it  a  moment, 
so  that  there  should  be  none  that  had  not  reflected 
the  image  of  its  mistress.  She  was  so  childishly 
delighted  with  her  scanty  possessions  that  she  was 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  83 

thankful   Susie   remained    invisible  and   did   not 
come  out  and  scoff. 

What  if  it  seemed  an  odd,  bare  place  to  eyes 
used  to  the  superfluity  of  hangings  and  stuffings 
that  prevailed  at  Estcourt  ?  These  bare  boards, 
these  shabby  little  mats  by  the  side  of  the  beds, 
the  worn  foxes'  skins  before  the  writing-tables, 
the  cane  or  wooden  chairs,  the  white  calico  cur- 
tains with  meek  cotton  fringes,  the  queer  little 
prints  on  the  walls,  the  painted  wooden  bedsteads, 
seemed  to  her  in  their  very  poorness  and  unpre- 
tentiousness  to  be  emblematical  of  all  the  virtues. 
As  she  lingered  in  the  quiet  rooms,  while  Letty 
raced  along  the  passages,  Anna  said  to  herself 
that  this  Spartan  simplicity,  this  absence  of  every 
luxury  that  could  still  further  soften  an  already 
languid  and  effeminate  soul,  was  beautiful.  Here, 
as  in  the  whitewashed  praying-places  of  the  Puri- 
tans, if  there  were  any  beauty  and  any  glory  it 
must  all  come  from  within,  be  all  of  the  spirit,  be 
only  the  beauty  of  a  clean  life  and  the  glory  of 
kind  thoughts.  She  pictured  herself  waking  up 
in  one  of  those  unadorned  beds  with  the  morning 
sun  shining  on  her  face,  and  rising  to  go  her  daily 
round  of  usefulness  in  her  quiet  house,  where 
there  would  be  no  quarrels,  and  no  pitiful  ambi- 
tions, and  none  of  those  many  bitter  heartaches 
that  need  never  be.  Would  they  not  be  happy 
days,  those  days  of  simple  duties  ?  "  The  better 
life  —  the  better  life,"  she  repeated  musingly,  stand- 
ing in  the  middle  of  the  big  room  through  whose 
tall  windows  she  could  see  the  garden,  and  a  strip 
of  marshy  land,  and  then  the  grey  sea  and  the 
white  of  the  gulls  and  the  dark  line  of  the  Riigen 


84  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

coast  over  which  the  dusk  was  gathering ;  and  she 
counted  on  her  fingers  mechanically,  "  Simplicity, 
frugality,  hard  work.  Uncle  Joachim  said  that 
was  the  better  life,  and  he  was  wise  —  oh,  he  was 

very  wise  —  but  still And  he  loved  me,  and 

understood  me,  but  still " 

Looking  up  she  caught  sight  of  herself  in  a 
long  glass  opposite,  a  slim  figure  in  a  fur  cloak, 
with  bare  head  and  pensive  eyes,  lost  in  reflection. 
It  reminded  her  of  the  day  the  letter  came,  when 
she  stood  before  the  glass  in  her  London  bedroom 
dressed  for  dinner,  with  that  same  sentence  of  his 
persistently  in  her  ears,  and  how  she  had  not  been 
able  to  imagine  herself  leading  the  life  it  described. 
Now,  in  her  travelling  dress,  pale  and  tired  and 
subdued  after  the  long  journey,  shorn  of  every 
grace  of  clothes  and  curls,  she  criticised  her  own 
fatuity  in  having  held  herself  to  be  of  too  fine  a 
clay,  too  delicate,  too  fragile,  for  a  life  that  might 
be  rough.  "  Oh,  vain  and  foolish  one  !  "  she  said 
aloud,  apostrophising  the  figure  in  the  glass  with 
the  familiar  Du  of  the  days  before  her  mother 
died,  "  Art  thou  then  so  much  better  than  others, 
that  thou  must  for  ever  be  only  ornamental  and 
an  expense  ?  Canst  thou  not  live,  except  in  lux- 
ury 1  Or  walk,  except  on  carpets  ?  Or  eat,  except 
thy  soup  be  not  of  chocolate  ?  Go  to  the  ants, 
thou  sluggard ;  consider  their  ways,  and  be  wise." 
And  she  wrapped  herself  in  her  cloak,  and  frowned 
defiance  at  that  other  girl. 

She  was  standing  scowling  at  herself  with  great 
disapproval  when  the  housemaid,  who  had  been 
searching  for  her  everywhere,  came  to  tell  her  that 
the  Herr  Oberinspector  was  downstairs,  and  had 
sent  up  to  know  if  his  visit  were  convenient. 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  85 

It  was  not  at  all  convenient ;  and  Anna  thought 
that  he  might  have  spared  her  this  first  evening  at 
least.  But  she  supposed  that  she  must  go  down 
to  him.,  feeling  somehow  unequal  to  sending  so 
authoritative  a  person  away. 

She  found  him  standing  in  the  inner  hall  with 
a  portfolio  under  his  arm.  He  was  blowing  his 
nose,  making  a  sound  like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet, 
and  waking  the  echoes.  Not  even  that  could  he 
do  quietly,  she  thought,  her  new  sense  of  proprie- 
torship oddly  irritated  by  a  nose  being  blown  so 
aggressively  in  her  house.  Besides,  they  were  her 
echoes  that  he  was  disturbing.  She  smiled  at  her 
own  childishness. 

She  greeted  him  kindly,  however,  in  response 
to  his  elaborate  obeisances,  and  shook  hands  on 
seeing  that  he  expected  to  be  shaken  hands  with, 
though  she  had  done  so  twice  already  that  after- 
noon ;  and  then  she  let  herself  be  ushered  by  him 
into  the  drawling-room,  a  room  on  the  garden  side 
of  the  house,  with  French  windows,  and  book- 
shelves, and  a  huge  round  polished  table  in  the 
middle. 

It  had  been  one  of  the  two  rooms  used  by  Uncle 
Joachim,  and  was  full  of  traces  of  his  visits.  She 
sat  down  at  a  big  writing-table  with  a  green  cloth 
top,  her  feet  plunged  in  the  long  matted  hairs  of  a 
grey  rug,  and  requested  Dellwig  to  sit  down  near 
her,  which  he  did,  saying  apologetically,  "  I  will  be 
so  free." 

The  servant,  Marie,  brought  in  a  lamp  with  a 
green  shade,  shut  the  shutters,  and  went  out  again 
on  tiptoe ;  and  Anna  settled  herself  to  listen  with 
what  patience  she  could  to  the  loud  voice  that 


86  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

jarred  so  on  her  nerves,  fortifying  herself  with 
reminders  that  it  was  her  duty,  and  really  taking 
pains  to  understand  him.  Nor  did  she  say  a  word, 
as  she  had  done  to  the  lawyer,  that  might  lead  him 
to  suppose  she  did  not  intend  living  there. 

But  Dell  wig's  ceaseless  flow  of  talk  soon  wearied 
her  to  such  an  extent  that  she  found  steady  atten- 
tion impossible.  To  understand  the  mere  words 
was  in  itself  an  effort,  and  she  had  not  yet  learned 
the  German  for  rye  and  oats  and  the  rest,  and  it 
was  of  these  that  he  chiefly  talked.  What  was 
the  use  of  explaining  to  her  in  what  way  he  had 
ploughed  and  manured  and  sown  certain  fields, 
how  they  lay,  how  big  they  were,  and  what  their 
soil  was,  when  she  had  not  seen  them  ?  Did  he 
imagine  that  she  could  keep  all  these  figures  and 
details  in  her  head  ?  "  I  know  nothing  of  farm- 
ing," she  said  at  last,  "  and  shall  understand  your 
plans  better  when  I  have  seen  the  estate." 

"  Naturlich,  naturlich','  shouted  Dellwig,  his 
voice  in  strangest  contrast  to  hers,  which  was  par- 
ticularly sweet  and  gentle.  "  Here  I  have  a  map 
— does  the  gracious  Miss  permit  that  I  show  it  ?  " 

The  gracious  Miss  inclined  her  tired  head,  and 
he  unrolled  it  and  spread  it  out  on  the  table,  point- 
ing with  his  fat  forefinger  as  he  explained  the 
boundaries,  and  the  divisions  into  forest,  pasture, 
and  arable. 

"  It  seems  to  be  nearly  all  forest,"  said  Anna. 

"  Forest !  The  forest  covers  two-thirds  of  the 
estate.  It  is  the  only  forest  on  the  entire  promon- 
tory. Such  care  as  I  have  bestowed  on  the  forest 
has  seldom  been  seen.  It  is  grossartig — colos- 
sal! "     And  he  lifted  his  hands  the  better  to  ex- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  87 

press  his  admiration,  and  was  about  to  go  into 
lengthy  raptures  when  the  map  rolled  itself  up 
again  with  loud  cracklings,  and  cut  him  short. 
He  spread  it  out  once  more,  and  securing  its  cor- 
ners began  to  describe  the  effects  of  the  various 
sorts  of  artificial  manure  on  the  different  crops, 
his  cleverness  in  combining  them,  and  his  latest 
triumphant  discovery  of  the  superlative  mixture 
that  was  to  strike  all  Pomerania  with  awe. 

"/^/'said  Anna,  balancing  a  paper-knife  on  one 
finger,  and  profoundly  bored.  "  Whose  land  is 
that  next  to  mine  ?  "  she  asked,  pointing. 

"  The  land  on  the  north  and  west  belongs  to 
peasants,"  said  Dellwig.  "  On  the  east  is  the  sea. 
On  the  south  it  is  all  Lohm.  The  gracious  one 
passed  through  the  village  of  Lohm  this  after- 
noon." 

"  The  village  where  the  school  is  ? " 

"  Quite  correct.  The  pastor,  Herr  Manske,  a 
worthy  man,  but,  like  all  pastors,  taking  ells  when 
he  is  offered  inches,  serves  both  that  church  and 
the  little  one  in  Kleinwalde  village,  of  which  the 
gracious  Miss  is  patroness.  Herr  von  Lohm,  who 
lives  in  the  house  standing  back  from  the  road, 
and  perhaps  noticed  by  the  gracious  Miss,  is 
Amtsvorsteher  in  both  villages." 

''What  is  Amtsvorsteher .f^ "  asked  Anna,  lan- 
guidly. She  was  leaning  back  in  her  chair,  idly 
balancing  the  paper-knife,  and  listening  with  half 
an  ear  only  to  Dellwig,  throwing  in  questions 
every  now  and  then  when  she  thought  she  ought 
to  say  something.  She  did  not  look  at  him,  pre- 
ferring much  to  look  at  the  paper-knife,  and  he 
could  examine  her  face  at  his  ease  in  the  shadow 


88  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

of  the  lamp-shade,  her  dark  eyelashes  lowered,  her 
profile  only  turned  to  him,  with  its  delicate  line  of 
brow  and  nose,  and  the  soft  and  gracious  curves 
of  the  mouth  and  chin  and  throat.  One  hand  lay 
on  the  table  in  the  circle  of  light,  a  slender,  beau- 
tiful hand,  full  of  character  and  energy,  and  the 
other  hung  listlessly  over  the  arm  of  the  chair. 
Anna  was  very  tired,  and  showed  it  in  every  line 
of  her  attitude ;  but  Dellwig  was  not  tired  at  all, 
was  used  to  talking,  enjoyed  at  all  times  the  sound 
of  his  voice,  and  on  this  occasion  felt  it  to  be  his 
duty  to  make  things  clear.  So  he  went  into  the 
lengthiest  details  as  to  the  nature  and  office  of 
Amtsvorstehers,  details  that  were  perfectly  incom- 
prehensible and  wholly  indifferent  to  Anna,  and 
spared  neither  himself  nor  her.  While  he  talked, 
however,  he  was  criticising  her,  comparing  the 
laziness  of  her  attitude  with  the  brisk  and  respect- 
ful alertness  of  other  women  when  he  talked.  He 
knew  that  these  other  women  belonged  to  a  dif- 
ferent class  ;  his  wife,  the  parson's  wife,  the  wives 
of  the  inspectors  on  other  estates,  these  were  not,  of 
course,  in  the  same  sphere  as  the  new  mistress  of 
Kleinwalde  ;  but  she  was  only  a  woman,  and  dress 
up  a  woman  as  you  will,  call  her  by  what  name 
you  will,  she  is  nothing  but  a  woman,  born  to  help 
and  serve,  never  by  any  possibility  even  equal  to 
a  clever  man  like  himself.  Old  Joachim  might 
have  lounged  as  he  chose,  and  put  his  feet  on  the 
table  if  it  had  seemed  good  to  him,  and  Dellwig 
would  have  accepted  it  with  unquestioning  respect 
as  an  eccentricity  of  Herrschaften ;  but  a  woman 
had  no  sort  of  right,  he  said  to  himself,  while  he 
so  fluently  discoursed,  to  let  herself  go  in  the  pres- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  89 

ence  of  her  natural  superior.  Unfortunately,  old 
Joachim,  so  level-headed  an  old  gentleman  in  all 
other  respects,  had  placed  the  power  over  his  for- 
tunes in  the  hands  of  this  weak  female  leaning 
back  so  unbecomingly  in  her  chair,  playing  with 
the  objects  on  the  table,  never  raising  her  eyes  to 
his,  and  showing  indeed,  incredible  as  it  seemed, 
every  symptom  of  thinking  of  something  else. 
The  women  of  his  acquaintance  were,  he  was  cer- 
tain, w^orth  individually  fifty  such  affected,  indif- 
ferent young  ladies.  They  worked  early  and  late 
to  make  their  husbands  comfortable ;  they  were 
well  practised  in  every  art  required  of  women  liv- 
ing in  the  country  ;  they  were  models  of  thrift  and 
diligence ;  yet,  with  all  their  virtues  and  all  their 
accomplishments,  they  never  dreamed  of  lounging 
or  not  listening  when  a  man  was  speaking,  but  sat 
attentively  on  the  edge  of  their  chairs,  straight  in 
the  back  and  seemly,  and  when  he  had  finished 
said  JawohL 

Anna  certainly  did  sit  very  much  at  her  ease, 
and  instead  of  attending,  as  she  ought  to  have 
done,  to  his  description  of  Amtsvorstehers,  was 
thinking  of  other  things.  Dellwig  had  thick  lips 
that  could  not  be  hidden  entirely  by  his  grizzled 
moustache  and  beard,  and  he  had  the  sort  of  eyes 
known  to  the  inelegant  but  truthful  as  fishy,  and 
a  big  obstinate  nose,  and  a  narrow  obstinate  fore- 
head, and  a  long  body  and  short  legs ;  and  though 
all  this,  Anna  told  herself,  was  not  in  the  least  his 
fault  and  should  not  in  any  way  prejudice  her 
against  him,  she  felt  that  she  was  justified  in  wish- 
ing that  his  manners  were  less  offensive,  less 
boastful  and  boisterous,  and  that  he  did  not  bite 


90  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

his  nails.  "  I  wonder,"  she  thought,  her  eyes  care- 
fully fixed  on  the  paper-knife,  but  conscious  of  his 
every  look  and  movement,  "  I  wonder  if  he  is  as 
artful  as  he  looks.  Surely  Uncle  Joachim  must 
have  known  what  he  was  like,  and  would  never 
have  told  me  to  keep  him  if  he  had  not  been 
honest.  Perhaps  he  is  perfectly  honest,  and  when 
I  meet  him  in  heaven  how  ashamed  I  shall  be  of 
myself  for  having  had  doubts ! "  And  then  she 
fell  to  musing  on  what  sort  of  an  appearance  a 
chastened  and  angelic  Dellwig  would  probably 
present,  and  looked  up  suddenly  at  him  with 
new  interest. 

"  I  trust  I  have  made  myself  comprehensible  ? " 
he  was  asking,  having  just  come  to  the  end  of 
what  he  felt  was  a  masterly  resume  of  Herr  von 
Lohm's  duties. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  ?  "  said  Anna,  bringing  her 
thoughts  back  with  difficulty  from  the  considera- 
tion of  nimbuses,  "Oh,  about  Amtsvorstehers  — 
no,"  she  said,  shaking  her  head,  "you  have  not. 
But  that  is  my  fault.  I  can't  understand  every- 
thing at  once.     I  shall  do  better  later  on." 

''Naturlich,  naturlich','  Dellwig  vehemently 
assured  her,  while  he  made  inward  comments  on 
the  innate  incapacity  of  all  Weiber,  as  he  called 
them,  to  grasp  the  simplest  fact  connected  with 
law  and  justice. 

"Tell  me  about  the  livestock,"  said  Anna, remem- 
bering Uncle  Joachim's  frequent  and  affectionate 
allusions  to  his  swine.     "  Are  there  many  pigs  1 " 

"  Pigs  ?  "  repeated  Dellwig,  lifting  up  his  hands 
as  though  mere  words  were  insufficient  to  express 
his  feelings,  "  such  pigs  as  the  gracious  Miss  now 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  91 

possesses  are  nowhere  else  to  be  found  in  Pome- 
rania.  They  are  the  pride,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  envy,  of  the  whole  province.  '  Let  my  sau- 
sages,' said  the  Herr  Landrath  last  winter,  when 
the  time  for  killing  drew  near,  'let  my  sausages 
consist  solely  of  the  pigs  reared  at  Kleinwalde  by 
my  friend  the  Oberinspector  Dellwig.'  The  Frau 
Landrathin  was  deeply  injured,  for  she  too  breeds 
and  fattens  pigs,  but  not  like  ours  —  not  like 
ours." 

"  Who  is  the  Herr  Landrath  ?  "  asked  Anna 
absently;  but  immediately  remembering  the  de- 
scription of  the  Amtsvorsteher  she  added  quickly, 
"  Never  mind  —  don't  explain.  I  suppose  he  is 
some  sort  of  an  official,  and  I  shall  not  be  quite 
clear  about  these  different  officials  till  I  have 
lived  here  some  time." 

''  Naturlich,  natmHich','  agreed  Dellwig;  and 
leaving  the  Landrath  unexplained  he  launched 
forth  into  a  dissertation  on  Anna's  pigs,  whose 
excellencies,  it  appeared,  wxre  wholly  due  to  the 
unrivalled  skill  he  had  for  years  displayed  in  their 
treatment.  "  I  have  no  children,"  he  said,  with  a 
resigned  and  pious  upward  glance,  "  and  my  wife's 
maternal  instincts  find  their  satisfaction  in  tend- 
ing and  fattening  these  fine  animals.  She  cannot 
listen  to  their  cries  the  day  they  are  killed,  and 
withdraws  into  the  cellar,  where  she  prepares  the 
stuffing.  The  gracious  Miss  ate  the  cutlets  of 
one  this  very  day.     It  was  killed  on  purpose." 

"  Was  it }  I  wish  it  hadn't  been,"  said  Anna, 
frowning  at  the  remembrance  of  that  meal.  'T  — 
I  don't  want  things  killed  on  my  account.  I  — 
don't  like  pig." 


92  THE  BENEFACTRESS 

"  Not  like  pig?  "  echoed  Dell  wig,  dropping  his 
lower  jaw  in  his  amazement.  "  Did  I  understand 
aright  that  the  gracious  one  does  not  eat  pig's 
flesh  gladly?  And  my  wife  and  I  who  thought 
to  prepare  a  joy  for  her !  "  He  clasped  his  hands 
together  and  stared  at  her  in  dismay.  Indeed,  he 
was  so  much  overcome  by  this  extraordinary  and 
wilful  spurning  of  nature's  best  gifts  that  for  a 
moment  he  was  silent,  and  knew  not  how  he 
should  proceed.  Were  there  not  concentrated  in 
the  body  of  a  single  pig  a  greater  diversity  of 
joys  than  in  any  other  form  of  pleasure  that  he 
could  call  to  mind  ?  Did  it  not  include,  besides 
the  profounder  delights  of  its  roasted  ribs,  such 
solid  satisfactions  as  hams,  sausages,  and  bacon? 
Did  not  its  liver,  discreetly  manipulated,  rival  the 
livers  of  Strasburg  geese  in  delicacy  ?  Were  not 
its  brains  a  source  of  mutual  congratulation  to  an 
entire  family  at  supper  ?  Did  not  its  very  snout, 
boiled  with  peas,  make  an  otherwise  inferior  soup 
delicious?  The  ribs  of  this  particular  pig  were 
reposing  at  that  moment  in  a  cool  place,  carefully 
shielded  from  harm  by  his  wife,  reserved  for  the 
Easter  Sunday  dinner  of  their  new  mistress,  who, 
having  begun  at  her  first  meal  with  the  lesser  joys 
of  cutlets,  was  to  be  fed  with  different  parts  in  the 
order  of  their  excellence  till  the  climax  of  rejoic- 
ing was  reached  on  Easter  Day  in  the  dish  of 
Schweinebraten,  and  w^ho  was  now  declaring,  in  a 
die-away,  affected  sort  of  voice,  that  she  did  not 
want  to  eat  pig  at  all.  Where,  then,  was  her  vul- 
nerable point  ?  How  would  he  ever  be  able  to 
touch  her,  to  influence  her,  if  she  was  indifferent 
to  the  chief   means  of   happiness  known  to  the 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  93 

dwellers  in  those  parts  ?  That  was  the  real  aim 
and  end  of  his  labours,  of  the  labours,  as  far  as 
he  could  see,  of  everyone  else  —  to  make  as  much 
money  as  possible  in  order  to  live  as  well  as  possi- 
ble ;  and  what  did  living  well  mean  if  it  did  not 
mean  the  best  food  ?  And  what  was  the  best 
food  if  not  pig  ?  Not  to  be  killed  on  her  account! 
On  whose  account,  then,  could  they  be  killed  ? 
With  an  owner  always  about  the  place,  and  re- 
fusing to  have  pigs  killed,  how  would  he  and  his 
wife  be  able  to  indulge,  with  satisfactory  frequency, 
in  their  favourite  food,  or  offer  it  to  their  expect- 
ant friends  on  Sundays  ?  He  mourned  old  Joa- 
chim, who  so  seldom  came  down,  and  when  he 
did  ate  his  share  of  pork  like  a  man,  more  sin- 
cerely at  that  moment  than  he  would  have  thought 
possible.  '^ Mein  seliger  Herr','  he  burst  out 
brokenly,  completely  upset  by  the  difference  be- 
tween uncle  and  niece,  "  7nei7i  seliger  Herr " 

And  then,  unable  to  go  on,  fell  to  blowing  his 
nose  with  violence,  for  there  were  real  tears  in 
his  eyes. 

Anna  looked  up,  surprised.  She  thought  he 
had  been  speaking  of  pigs,  and  here  he  was  on  a 
sudden  bewailing  his  late  master.  When  she  saw 
the  tears  she  was  deeply  touched.  "  Poor  man," 
she  said  to  herself,  "  how  unjust  I  have  been.  Of 
course  he  loved  dear  Uncle  Joachim ;  and  my  com- 
ing here,  an  utter  stranger,  taking  possession  of 
everything,  must  be  very  dreadful  for  him."  She 
got  up,  at  once  anxious,  as  she  always  was,  to  com- 
fort and  soothe  anyone  who  was  sad,  and  put  her 
hand  gently  on  his  arm.  "  I  loved  him  too,"  she 
said  softly,  "  and  you  who  knew  him  so  long  must 


94  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

feel  his  death  dreadfully.  We  will  try  and  keep 
everything  just  as  he  would  have  liked  it,  won't 
we  ?  You  know  what  his  washes  were,  and  must 
help  me  to  carry  them  out.  You  cannot  have  loved 
him  more  than  I  did  —  dear  Uncle  Joachim!  " 

She  felt  very  near  tears  herself,  and  condoned 
the  sonorous  nose-blowing  as  the  expression  of  an 
honourable  emotion. 

And  Dellwig,  when  he  presently  reached  his 
home  and  was  met  at  the  door  by  his  wife's  eager 
"  Well,  how  was  she  ?  "  laconically  replied  "  Mad." 


CHAPTER  VII 

When  Anna  woke  next  morning  she  had  a  con- 
fused idea  that  something  annoying  had  happened 
the  evening  before,  but  she  had  slept  so  heavily 
that  she  could  not  at  once  recollect  what  it  was. 
Then,  the  sun  on  her  face  waking  her  up  more 
thoroughly,  she  remembered  that  Susie  had  stayed 
upstairs  with  Hilton  till  supper  time,  had  then 
come  down,  glanced  with  unutterable  disgust  at 
the  raw  ham,  cold  sausage,  eggs,  and  tepid  coffee 
of  which  the  evening  meal  was  composed,  refused 
to  eat,  refused  to  speak,  refused  utterly  to  smile, 
and  afterwards  in  the  drawing-room  had  announced 
her  fixed  intention  of  returning  to  England  the 
next  day. 

Anna  had  protested  and  argued  in  vain;  nothing 
could  shake  this  sudden  determination.  To  all 
her  expostulations  and  entreaties  Susie  replied 
that  she  had  never  yet  dwelt  among  savages  and 
she  was  not  going  to  begin  now ;  so  Anna  was 
forced  to  conclude  that  Hilton  had  been  making 
a  scene,  and  knowing  the  effect  of  Hilton's  scenes 
she  gave  up  attempting  to  persuade,  but  told  her 
with  outward  firmness  and  inward  quakings  that 
she  herself  could  not  possibly  go  too. 

Susie  had  been  very  angry  at  this,  and  still 
more  angry  at  the  reason  Anna  gave,  which  was 
that,  having  invited  the  parson  and  his  wife  to 

95 


96  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

dinner  on  Saturday,  she  could  not  break  her  en- 
gagement.  Susie  told  her  that  as  she  would  never 
see  either  of  them  again  —  for  surely  she  would 
never  again  want  to  come  to  this  place  ?  —  it  was 
absurd  to  care  twopence  what  they  thought  of 
her.  What  on  earth  did  it  matter  if  two  inhabit- 
ants of  the  desert  were  offended  or  not  offended 
once  she  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea?  And 
what  did  it  matter  at  all  how  she  treated  them  ? 
She  heaped  such  epithets  as  absurd,  stupid,  and 
idiotic  on  Anna's  head,  but  Anna  was  not  to  be 
moved.  She  threatened  to  take  Miss  Leech  and 
Letty  away  with  her,  and  leave  Anna  a  prey  to  the 
criticisms  of  Mrs.  Grundy,  and  Anna  said  she  could 
not  prevent  her  doing  so  if  she  chose.  Susie  be- 
came more  and  more  excited,  more  and  more 
Dobbs,  goaded  by  the  recollection  of  what  she 
had  gone  through  with  Hilton,  and  Anna,  as 
usual  under  such  circumstances,  grew  very  silent. 
Letty  sat  listening  in  an  agony  of  fright  lest  this 
cup  of  new  experiences  w^ere  about  to  be  dashed 
prematurely  from  her  eager  Hps;  and  Miss  Leech 
discreetly  left  the  room,  though  not  in  the  least 
knowing  where  to  go,  finally  seeking  to  drive  away 
the  nervous  fears  that  assailed  her  in  her  lonely, 
creaking  bedroom,  where  rats  were  gnawing  at  the 
woodwork,  by  thinking  hard  of  Mr.  Jessup,  who 
on  this  occasion  proved  to  be  but  a  broken  reed, 
pitted  against  the  stern  reality  of  rats. 

The  end  of  it,  after  Susie  had  poured  out  the 
customary  reproaches  of  gross  ingratitude  and 
forgetfulness  of  all  she  had  done  for  Anna  for 
fifteen  long  years,  was  that  Miss  Leech  and  Letty 
were  to  stay  on  as  originally  intended,  and  come 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  97 

home  with  Anna  towards  the  end  of  the  holidays, 
and  Susie  would  leave  with  Hilton  the  very  next 
day. 

Anna's  attempt  to  make  it  up  when  she  said 
good-night  was  repulsed  with  energy.  Anna  was 
for  ever  doing  aggravating  things,  and  then  want- 
ing to  make  it  up ;  but  makings  up  without  hav- 
ing given  in  an  inch  seemed  to  Susie  singularly 
unsatisfactory  ceremonies.  Oh,  these  Estcourts 
and  their  obstinacy !  She  marched  off  to  bed  in 
high  indignation,  an  indignation  not  by  any  means 
allowed  to  cool  by  Hilton  during  the  process  of 
undressing;  and  Anna,  worn  out,  fell  asleep  the 
moment  she  lay  down,  and  woke  up,  as  she  had 
pictured  herself  doing  in  that  odd  wooden  bed, 
with  the  morning  sun  shining  full  on  her  face. 

It  was  a  bright  and  lovely  day,  and  on  the  side  of 
the  house  where  she  slept  she  could  not  hear  the 
wind,  which  was  still  blowing  from  the  north-west. 
She  opened  one  of  her  three  big  windows  and  let 
the  cold  air  rush  into  her  room,  where  the  curious 
perfume  of  the  baked  evergreen  wreaths  festooned 
round  the  walls  and  looking-glass  and  dressing- 
table,  joined  to  the  heat  from  the  stove,  produced 
a  heavy  atmosphere  that  made  her  gasp.  Some- 
body must  already  have  been  in  her  room,  for  the 
stove  had  been  lit  again,  and  she  could  see  the 
peat  blazing  inside  its  open  door.  But  outside, 
what  a  divine  coldness  and  purity!  She  leaned 
out,  drinking  it  in  in  long  breaths,  the  warm 
March  sun  shining  on  her  head.  The  garden, 
a  mere  uncared-for  piece  of  rough  grass  with  big 
trees,  was  radiant  with  rain-drops ;  the  strip  of 
sea  was  a  deep  blue  now,  with  crests  of   foam; 

H 


98  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  island  coast  opposite  was  a  shadowy  streak 
stretched  across  the  feet  of  the  sun.  Oh,  it  was 
beautiful  to  stand  at  that  open  window  in  the 
freshness,  listening  to  the  robin  on  the  bare  lilac 
bush  a  few  yards  away,  to  the  quarrelling  of  the 
impudent  sparrows  on  the  path  below,  to  the 
wind  in  the  branches  of  the  trees,  to  all  the  happy 
morning  sounds  of  nature.  A  joyous  feeling  took 
possession  of  her  heart,  a  sudden  overpowering 
delight  in  what  are  called  common  things  — 
mere  earth,  sky,  sun,  and  wind.  How  lovely  life 
was  on  such  a  morning,  in  such  a  clean,  rain- 
washed,  wind-scoured  world.  The  wet  smell  of 
the  garden  came  up  to  her,  a  whiff  of  marshy 
smell  from  the  water,  a  long  breath  from  the  pines 
in  the  forest  on  the  other  side  of  the  house.  How 
had  she  ever  breathed  at  Estcourt  ?  How  had 
she  escaped  suffocation  without  this  life-giving 
smell  of  sea  and  forest  .^^  She  looked  down  with 
delight  at  the  wildness  of  the  garden ;  after  the 
trim  Estcourt  lawns,  what  a  relief  this  was.  This 
was  all  liberty,  freedom  from  conventionality, 
absolute  privacy;  that  was  an  everlasting  clip- 
ping, and  trimming,  and  raking,  a  perpetual 
stumbling  upon  gardeners  at  every  step,  for  Susie 
would  not  be  outdone  by  her  greater  neighbours 
in  these  matters.  What  was  Hill  Street  looking 
like  this  fine  March  morning  .^^  All  the  blinds 
down,  all  the  people  in  bed  —  how  far  away,  how 
shadowy  it  was ;  a  street  inhabited  by  sleepy 
ghosts,  with  phantom  milkmen  rattling  spectral 
cans  beneath  their  windows.  What  a  dream  that 
life  lived  up  to  three  days  ago  seemed  in  this 
morning  light  of  reality.     White  clouds,  like  the 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  99 

clouds  in  Raphael's  backgrounds,  were  floating 
so  high  overhead  that  they  could  not  be  hurried 
by  the  wind ;  a  black  cat  sat  in  a  patch  of  sun- 
shine on  the  path  washing  itself;  somebody 
opened  a  lower  window,  and  there  w^as  a  noise  of 
sweeping,  presently  made  indistinguishable  by  the 
chorale  sung  by  the  sweeper,  no  doubt  Marie,  in 
a  pious.  Good  Friday  mood.  "  Lob  Gott  ihr 
Christen  allzugleich','  chanted  Marie,  keeping 
time  with  her  broom.  Her  voice  was  loud  and 
monotonous,  but  Anna  listened  with  a  smile,  and 
would  have  liked  to  join  in,  and  so  let  some  of 
her  happiness  find  its  way  out. 

She  dressed  quickly.  There  was  no  hot  water, 
and  no  bell  to  ring  for  some,  and  she  did  not 
choose  to  call  down  from  the  window  and  interrupt 
the  hymn,  so  she  used  cold  water,  assuring  herself 
that  it  was  bracing.  Then  she  put  on  her  hat 
and  coat  and  stole  out,  afraid  of  disturbing  Susie, 
who  was  lying  a  few  yards  away  filled  with 
smouldering  wrath,  anxious  to  have  at  least  one 
quiet  hour  before  beginning  a  day  that  she  felt 
sure  was  going  to  be  a  day  of  worries.  "  There 
will  be  great  peace  to-night  when  she  is  gone," 
she  thought,  and  immediately  felt  ashamed  that  she 
should  look  forward  to  being  without  her.  "  But 
I  have  never  been  without  her  since  I  was  ten," 
she  explained  apologetically  to  her  offended  con- 
science, "  and  I  want  to  see  how  I  feel." 

"  Gtiten  Morgen^'  said  Marie,  as  Anna  came 
into  the  drawing-room  on  her  way  out  through  its 
French  windows. 

"  Guten  Morgen''  said  Anna  cheerfully. 

Marie  leaned  on  her  broom  and  watched  her  go 


loo  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

down  the  garden,  greedily  taking  in  every  detail  of 
her  clothes,  profoundly  interested  in  a  being  who 
went  out  into  the  mud  where  nobody  could  see  her 
with  such  a  dress  on,  and  whose  shoes  would  not 
have  been  too  big  for  Marie's  small  sister  aged  nine. 
The  evening  before,  indeed,  Marie  had  beheld 
such  a  vision  as  she  had  never  yet  in  her  life  seen, 
or  so  much  as  imagined  ;  her  new  mistress  had 
appeared  at  supper  in  what  was  evidently  a  herr- 
schaftliche  Ballkleid,  with  naked  arms  and  shoul- 
ders, and  the  other  ladies  were  attired  in  much  the 
same  way.  The  young  Fraulein,  it  is  true,  showed 
no  bare  flesh,  but  even  she  was  arrayed  in  white, 
and  her  hair  magnificently  tied  up  with  ribbons. 
Marie  had  rushed  out  to  tell  the  cook,  and  the 
cook,  refusing  to  believe  it,  had  carried  in  a  super- 
erogatory dish  of  compot  as  an  excuse  for  secur- 
ing the  assurance  of  her  own  eyes ;  and  Bertha 
from  the  farm,  coming  round  with  a  message  from 
the  Frau  Oberinspector,  had  seen  it  too  through 
the  crack  of  the  kitchen  door  as  the  ladies  left  the 
dining-room,  and  had  gone  off  breathlessly  to 
spread  the  news;  and  the  post  cart  just  leaving 
with  the  letters  had  carried  it  to  Lohm,  and  every 
inhabitant  of  every  house  between  Kleinwalde 
and  Stralsund  knew  all  about  it  before  bedtime. 
"  What  did  I  tell  thee,  wife  ?  "  said  Dellwig,  who, 
in  spite  of  his  superiority  to  the  sex  that  served, 
listened  as  eagerly  as  any  member  of  it  to  gossip ; 
and  his  wife  was  only  too  ready  to  label  Anna  mad 
or  eccentric  as  a  slight  private  consolation  for  hav- 
ing passed  out  of  the  service  of  a  comprehensible  . 
German  gentleman  into  that  of  a  woman  and  a 
foreigner. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  loi 

Unconscious  of  the  interest  and  curiosity  she 

was  exciting  for  miles  round,  pleased  by  Marie's 

artless  piety,  and  filled  with  kindly  feelings  towards 

all  her  neighbours,  Anna  stood  at  the  end  of  the 

garden  looking  over  the  low  hedge  that  divided  it 

from  the  marsh  and  the  sea,  and  thought  that  she 

had  never  seen  a  place  where  it  would  be  so  easy 

to  be  good.    Complete  freedom  from  the  wearisome 

obligations  of  society,  an  ideal  privacy  surrounded 

by  her  woods  and  the  water,  a  scanty  population 

of  simple  and  devoted  people  —  did  not  Dellwig 

shed  tears  at  the  remembrance  of  his  master?  — 

every  day  spent  here  would  be  a  day  that  made 

her  better,  that  would  bring  her  nearer  to  that 

heaven  in  which  all  good  and  simple  souls  dwelt 

while  still  on  earth,  the  heaven  of  a  serene  and 

quiet  mind.     Always  she  had  longed  to  be  good, 

and  to  help  and  befriend  those  who  had  the  same 

longing  but  in  whom  it  had  been  partially  crushed 

by  want  of  opportunity  and  want  of  peace.     The 

healthy  goodness  that    goes    hand  in  hand  with 

happiness  was  what  she  meant;    not  that  tragic 

and  futile  goodness  that  grows  out  of  grief,  that  lifts 

its  head  miserably  in  stony  places,  that  flourishes 

in  sick  rooms  and  among  desperate  sorrows,  and 

goes  to  God  only  because  all  else  is  lost.     She 

went  round  the  house  and  crossed  the  road  into 

the  forest.     The  fresh  wind  blew  in  her  face,  and 

shook  down  the  drops  from  the  branches  on  her 

as  she  passed.     The  pine  needles  of  other  years 

made  a  thick  carpet  for  her  feet.    The  sun  gleamed 

through  the  straight  trunks  and  warmed  her.    The 

restless  sighing  overheard  in  the  tree  tops  filled 

her  ears  with  sweetest  music.     "  I  do  believe  the 


102  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

place  is  pleased  that  I  have  come  ! "  she  thought, 
with  a  happy  laugh.  She  came  to  a  clearing  in 
the  trees,  opening  out  towards  the  north,  and  she 
could  see  the  flat  fields  and  the  wide  sky  and  the 
sunshine  chasing  the  shadows  across  the  vivid 
green  patches  that  she  had  learned  were  winter 
rye.  A  hole  at  her  feet,  where  a  tree  had  been 
uprooted,  still  had  snow  in  it ;  but  the  larks  were 
singing  above  in  the  blue,  as  though  from  those 
high  places  they  could  see  Spring  far  away  in  the 
south,  coming  up  slowly  with  the  first  anemones 
in  her  hands,  her  face  turned  at  last  towards  the 
patient  north. 

The  strangest  feeling  of  being  for  the  first  time 
in  her  life  at  home  came  over  Anna.  This  poor 
country,  how  sweet  and  touching  it  was.  After 
the  English  country,  with  its  thickly  scattered 
villages,  and  gardens,  and  fields  that  looked  like 
parks,  it  did  seem  very  poor  and  very  empty,  but 
intensely  lovable.  Like  the  furniture  of  her  house, 
it  struck  her  as  symbolic  in  its  bareness  of  the 
sturdier  virtues.  The  people  who  lived  in  it  must 
of  necessity  be  frugal  and  hard-working  if  they 
would  live  at  all,  wresting  by  sheer  labour  their  life 
from  the  soil,  braced  by  the  long  winters  to  endur- 
ance and  self-denial,  their  vices  and  their  languors 
frozen  out  of  them  whether  they  would  or  no.  At 
least  so  thought  Anna,  as  she  stood  gazing  out 
across  the  clearing  at  the  fields  and  sky.  "  Could 
one  not  be  good  here  ?  Could  one  not  be  so,  so 
good  ?  "  she  kept  on  murmuring.  Then  she  re- 
membered that  she  had  been  asking  herself  vague 
questions  like  this  ever  since  her  arrival ;  and  with 
a  sudden  determination  to  face  what  was  in  her 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  103 

mind  and  think  it  out  honestly,  she  sat  down  on  a 
tree  stump,  buttoned  her  coat  up  tight,  for  the  wind 
was  blowing  full  on  her,  and  fell  to  considering 
what  she  meant  to  do. 

Susie  did  not  go  down  to  breakfast,  but  stayed 
in  her  bedroom  on  the  sofa  drinking  a  glass  of 
milk  into  which  an  egg  had  been  beaten,  and 
listening  to  Hilton's  criticisms  of  the  German 
nation,  delivered  with  much  venom  while  she 
packed.  But  Hilton,  though  her  contempt  for 
German  ways  was  so  great  as  to  be  almost  un- 
utterable, was  reconciled  to  a  mistress  who  had 
so  quickly  given  in  to  her  wish  to  be  taken  back 
to  Hill  Street,  and  the  venom  was  of  an  abstract 
nature,  containing  no  personal  sting  of  unfavour- 
able comparisons  with  duchesses ;  so  that  Susie 
was  sipping  her  milk  in  a  fairly  placid  frame  of 
mind  when  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door,  and 
Anna  asked  if  she  might  come  in. 

"  Oh,  yes,  come  in.  Have  you  looked  out  the 
trains  ?  " 

"  Yes.  There's  only  one  decent  one,  and  you'll 
have  to  leave  directly  after  luncheon.  Won't  you 
stay,  Susie  ?  You'll  be  so  tired,  going  home  with- 
out resting." 

"  Can't  we  leave  before  luncheon  ?  " 

"  Yes,  of  course,  if  you  prefer  to  lunch  at  Stral- 
sund." 

"  Much.     Have  you  ordered  the  shandrydan  ?  " 

"  Yes,  for  half-past  one." 

"  Then  order  it  for  half-past  twelve.  Hilton 
can  drive  with  me." 

"  So  I  thought." 


I04  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Has  that  wretch  been  rubbing  fish  oil  on  it 
again  ? " 

"  I  don't  think  so,  after  what  I  said  yesterday." 

"  I  shouldn't  think  what  you  said  yesterday 
could  have  frightened  him  much.  You  beamed 
at  him  as  though  he  were  your  best  friend." 

"  Did  I  ?  " 

Anna  was  looking  odd,  Susie  thought,  and 
answering  her  remarks  with  a  nervous,  abstracted 
air.  She  had  apparently  been  out,  for  her  dress 
was  muddy,  and  she  was  quite  rosy,  and  her  hair 
was  not  so  neat  as  usual.  She  stood  about  in  an 
undecided  sort  of  way,  and  glanced  several  times 
at  Hilton  on  her  knees  before  a  trunk. 

"  Is  that  all  the  breakfast  you  are  going  to 
have  ? "  she  asked,  becoming  aware  of  the  glass 
of  milk. 

"  What  other  breakfast  is  there  to  have  ? " 
snapped  Susie,  who  was  hungry,  and  would  have 
liked  a  great  deal  more. 

"  Well,  the  eggs  and  butter  are  very  nice,  any- 
way," said  Anna,  quite  evidently  thinking  of  other 
things. 

"  Now  what  has  she  got  into  her  head  ?  "  Susie 
asked  herself,  watching  her  sister-in-law  with  mis- 
giving. Anna's  new  moods  were  never  by  any 
chance  of  a  sort  to  give  Susie  pleasure.  Aloud 
she  said  tartly,  "  I  can't  eat  eggs  and  butter  by 
themselves.  I  shouldn't  have  had  anything  at  all 
if  it  hadn't  been  for  Hilton,  who  went  into  the 
kitchen  and  made  me  this  herself." 

"  Excellent  Hilton,"  said  Anna  absently. 
"  Haven't  you  done  packing  yet,  Hilton  ?  " 

"  No,  m'm." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  105 

Anna  sat  down  on  the  end  of  the  sofa  and 
began  to  twist  the  frills  of  Susie's  dressing-gown 
round  her  fingers. 

"  I  haven't  closed  my  eyes  all  night,"  said 
Susie,  putting  on  her  martyr  look,  "  nor  has 
Hilton." 

"Haven't  you  .^^  Why  not.^^  I  slept  the  sleep 
of  the  just  —  better,  indeed,  than  any  just  that  I 
ever  heard  of." 

"  What,  didn't  that  man  go  into  your  room  ?  " 

"  What  man  ?  Oh,  yes,  Miss  Leech  was  telling 
me  about  it.  He  lit  the  stoves,  didn't  he.^*  I 
never  heard  a  sound." 

"  You  must  have  slept  like  a  log  then.  Any 
one  in  the  least  sensitive  would  have  been  fright- 
ened out  of  their  senses.  I  was,  and  so  was 
Hilton.  I  wouldn't  spend  another  night  in  this 
house  for  anything  you  could  give  me." 

It  appeared  that  Susie  really  had  just  cause  for 
complaint.  She  had  been  nervous  the  night  be- 
fore after  Hilton  had  left  her,  unable  to  sleep, 
and  scared  by  the  thought  of  their  defenceless- 
ness  —  six  women  alone  in  that  wild  place.  She 
wished  then  with  all  her  heart  that  Dellwig  did 
live  in  the  house.  Rats  scampering  about  in  the 
attic  above  added  to  her  terrors.  The  wind 
shook  the  windows  of  her  room  and  howled  dis- 
consolately up  and  down.  She  bore  it  as  long  as 
she  could,  which  was  longer  than  most  women 
would  have  borne  it,  and  then  knocked  on  the 
wall  dividing  her  room  from  Hilton's.  But  Hil- 
ton, with  the  bedclothes  over  her  head  and  all 
the  candles  she  had  been  able  to  collect  alight, 
would  not  have  stirred  out  of  her  room  to  save 


io6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

her  mistress  from  dying ;  and  Susie,  desperate  at 
the  prospect  of  the  awful  hours  round  midnight, 
made  one  great  effort  of  courage  and  saUied  out 
to  fetch  her.  Poor  Susie,  standing  shivering  be- 
fore her  maid's  bolted  door,  scantily  clothed, 
anxiously  watching  the  flame  of  her  candle  that 
threatened  each  second  to  be  blown  out,  alone  on 
the  wide,  draughty  landing,  frightened  at  the 
sound  of  her  own  calls  mingling  weirdly  with  the 
creakings  and  hangings  of  the  ternpest-shaken 
house,  was  an  object  deserving  of  pity.  It  took 
some  minutes  to  induce  Hilton  to  open  the  door, 
and  such  minutes  Susie  had  not,  in  the  course  of 
an  ordered  and  normal  existence,  yet  passed. 
They  both  went  into  Susie's  room,  locked  them- 
selves in,  and  Hilton  lay  down  on  the  sofa ;  and 
after  a  long  time  they  fell  into  an  uneasy  sleep. 
At  half-past  three  Susie  started  up  in  bed;  some 
one  was  trying  to  open  the  door  and  knocking. 
The  candles  had  burnt  themselves  out,  and  she 
could  not  tell  what  time  it  was,  but  thought  it 
must  be  early  morning  and  that  the  servant 
wanted  to  bring  her  hot  water;  and  she  woke 
Hilton  and  bade  her  open  the  door.  Hilton  did 
so,  gave  a  faint  scream,  and  flung  herself  back  on 
the  sofa,  where  she  lay  as  one  dead,  her  face 
buried  in  the  pillow.  A  man  with  a  lantern  and 
no  shoes  on  was  at  the  door,  and  came  in  noise- 
lessly. Susie  was  never  nearer  fainting  in  her 
life.  She  sat  in  her  bed,  her  cold  hands  clasped 
tightly  round  her  knees,  her  eyes  fixed  on  this 
dreadful  apparition,  unable  to  speak  or  move, 
paralysed  by  terror.  This  was  the  end,  then,  of 
all  her  hopes  and  ambitions  —  to  come  to  Pome- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  107 

rania  and  die  like  a  dog.  Then  the  sickening 
feeling  of  fear  gave  way  to  one  of  overwhelming 
wrath  when  she  found  that  all  the  man  wanted 
was  to  light  her  stove.  On  the  same  principle 
that  a  child  is  shaken  who  has  not  after  all  been 
lost  or  run  over,  she  was  speechless  with  rage 
now  that  she  found  that  she  was  not,  after  all,  to 
be  murdered.  He  was  a  very  old  man,  and  the 
light  from  the  lantern  cast  strange  reflections  on 
his  face  and  figure  as  he  crouched  before  the 
stove.  He  mumbled  as  he  worked,  talking  to  the 
fire  he  was  making  as  though  it  were  a  person. 
"  Du  willst  7iicht,  brennen,  Lump  ?  Was  ?  Na^ 
warte  mall "  And  when  he  had  finished,  crept 
out  again  without  glancing  at  the  occupants  of 
the  room,  still  mumbling. 

"  It's  the  custom  of  the  country,  I  suppose," 
said  Anna. 

"  Is  it }  Well  the  sooner  we  get  out  of  such  a 
country  the  better.  You  are  determined  to  stay 
in  spite  of  everything  ?  I  can  tell  you  I  don't  at 
all  like  my  child  being  here,  but  you  force  me  to 
leave  her  because  you  know  very  well  that  I  can't 
let  you  stay  here  alone." 

Anna  glanced  at  Hilton,  folding  a  dress  with 
immense  deliberation. 

"  Oh,  Hilton  knows  what  I  think,"  said  Susie, 
with  a  shrug. 

"  But  she  doesn't  know  what  /  think,"  said 
Anna.  "  I  must  talk  to  you  before  you  leave,  so 
please  let  her  finish  packing  afterwards.  Go  and 
have  your  breakfast,  Hilton." 

"  Did  you  say  breakfast,  m'm  ?  "  inquired  Hil- 
ton with  an  innocent  look. 


io8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Breakfast  ?  "  repeated  Susie  ;  "  poor  thing,  I'd 
like  to  know  how  and  where  she  is  to  get  any." 

"  Well,  then,  go  and  don't  have  your  breakfast,'* 
said  Anna  impatiently.  She  had  something  to 
tell  Susie  that  must  be  told  soon,  and  was  not  in 
a  mood  to  bear  with  Hilton's  ways. 

"  How  hospitable,"  remarked  Susie  as  the  door 
closed.     "  Really  you  are  a  delightful  hostess." 

Anna  laughed.  "  I  don't  mean  to  be  brutal," 
she  said,  "  but  if  we  can  exist  on  the  food  without 
looking  tragic  I  suppose  she  can  too,  especially  as 
it  is  only  for  one  day." 

"  My  one  consolation  in  leaving  Letty  here  is 
that  she  will  be  dieted  in  spite  of  herself.  I  ex- 
pect you  to  bring  her  back  quite  thin." 

Anna  got  up  restlessly  and  went  to  the  window. 

"And  whatever  you  do,  don't  forget  that  the 
return  tickets  only  last  till  the  24th.  But  you'll 
be  sick  of  it  long  before  then." 

Anna  turned  round  and  leaned  her  back  against 
the  window.  The  strong  morning  light  was  on 
her  hair,  and  her  face  was  in  shadow,  yet  Susie 
had  a  feeling  that  she  was  looking  guilty. 

"  Susie,  I've  been  thinking,"  she  said  with  an 
effort. 

"  Really  ?     How  nice." 

"  Yes,  it  was,  for  I  found  out  what  it  is  that  ^  I 
.must  do  if  I   mean  to  be  happy.     But  I'm  afraid 
that  you  won't  think  it  nice,  and  will  scold  me. 
Now  don't  scold  me." 

"  Well,  tell  me  what  it  is."  Susie  lay  staring  at 
Anna's  form  against  the  light,  bracing  herself  to 
hear  something  disagreeable.  She  knew  very  well 
from  past  experience  that  Anna's  new  plan,  what- 
ever it  was,  was  certain  to  be  wild  and  foolish. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  109 

"  I  am  going  to  stay  here." 

"  I  know  you  are,  and  I  know  that  nothing  I 
can  say  will  make  you  change  your  mind.  Peter 
is  just  like  you  —  the  more  I  show  him  what  a 
fool  he's  going  to  make  of  himself  the  more  he 
insists  on  doing  it.  He  calls  it  determination. 
Average  people  like  myself,  with  smaller  and 
more  easily  managed  brains  than  you  two  won- 
ders have  got,  call  it  pigheadedness." 

"  I  don't  mean  only  for  Letty's  holidays ;  I 
mean  for  good." 

"  For  good  ?  "  Susie  opened  her  mouth  and 
stared  in  much  the  same  blank  consternation  that 
Dellwig  had  shown  on  hearing  that  she  did  not 
Hke  eating  pig. 

"  Don't  be  angry  with  me,"  said  Anna,  coming 
over  to  the  sofa  and  sitting  on  the  floor  by  Susie's 
side ;  and  she  caught  hold  of  her  hand  and  began 
to  talk  fast  and  eagerly.  "  I  always  intended 
spending  this  money  in  helping  poor  people,  but 
didn't  quite  know  in  what  way  —  now  I  see  my 
way  clearly,  and  I  must,  must  go  it.  Don't  you 
remember  in  the  catechism  there's  the  duty  tow- 
ards God  and  the  duty  towards  one's  neigh- 
bour  " 

"  Oh,  if  you're  going  to  talk  religion "  said 

Susie,  pulling  away  her  hand  in  great  disgust. 

"  No,  no,  do  listen,"  said  Anna,  catching  it  again 
and  stroking  it  while  she  talked,  to  Susie's  intense 
irritation,  who  hated  being  stroked. 

"  If  you  are  going  into  the  catechism,"  she  said, 
"  Hilton  had  better  come  in  again.  It  might  do 
her  good." 

"No,  no — I    only  wanted  to  say  that  there's 


no  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

another  duty  not  in  the  catechism,  greater  than 

the  duty  towards  one's  neighbour " 

"  My  dear  Anna,  it  isn't  likely  that  you  can  im- 
prove on  the  catechism.  And  fancy  wanting  to, 
at  breakfast  time.  Don't  stroke  my  hand  —  it 
gives  me  the  fidgets." 

"  But  I  want  to  explain  things  —  do  listen.  The 
duty  the  catechism  leaves  out  is  the  duty  towards 
oneself.     You    can't  get  away  from  your  duties, 

you  know,  Susie "     And  she  knit  her  brows 

in  her  effort  to  follow  out  her  thought. 

"  My  goodness,  as  though  I  ever  tried  !  If  ever 
a  poor  woman  did  her  duty,  I'm  that  woman."  ^ 

"  —  and  I  believe  that  if  I  do  those  two  duties, 
towards  my  neighbour  and  myself,  I  shall  be  doing 
my  duty  towards  God." 

Susie  gave  her  body  an  impatient  twist.  She 
thought  it  positively  indecent  to  speak  of  sacred 
things  so  early  in  the  morning  in  cold  blood. 
"  What  has  this  drivel  to  do  with  your  stopping 
here  ?  "  she  asked  angrily. 

"It  has  everything  to  do  with  it  —  my  duty 
towards  myself  is  to  be  as  happy  and  as  good  as 
possible,  and  my  duty  towards  my  neighbour '^| 

"  Oh,  bother  your  neighbour  and  your  duty !  " 
cried  Susie  in  exasperation. 

"  —  is  to  help  him  to  be  good  and  happy  too." 

"Him?  Her,  I  hope.  Don't  forget  decency, 
my  dear.  A  girl  has  no  duties  whatever  towards 
male  neighbours." 

"  Well,  I  do  mean  her,"  said  Anna,  looking  up 
and  laughing. 

"  So  you  think  that  by  living  here  you'll  make 

yourself  happy  ?  " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  iii 

"Yes,  I  do — I  do  think  so.  Perhaps  I  am 
wrong,  and  shall  find  out  I'm  wrong,  but  I  must 
try. 

"  You'll  leave  all  your  friends  and  relations  and 
stay  in  this  God-forsaken  place  where  you  can't 
even  live  like  a  lady  ?  " 

"  Uncle  Joachim  said  it  was  my  one  chance  of 
leading  the  better  life." 

"  Unutterable  old  fool,"  said  Susie  with  bitterest 
contempt.  "  That  money,  then,  is  going  to  be 
thrown  away  on  Germans  ?  As  though  there 
weren't  poor  people  enough  in  England,  if  your 
ambition  is  to  pose  as  a  benefactress ! " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  want  to  pose  as  anything  —  I  only 
want  to  help  unhappy  wretches,"  cried  Anna,  lay- 
ing her  cheek  caressingly  on  Susie's  unwilling 
hand.  "  Now  don't  scold  me  —  forgive  me  if  I'm 
silly,  and  be  patient  wath  me  till  I  find  out  that 
I've  made  a  goose  of  myself  and  come  creeping 
back  to  you  and  Peter.  But  I  mus^  do  it  —  I  mus^ 
try  —  I  wi/l  do  w^hat  I  think  is  right." 

"  And  who  are  the  wretches,  pray,  who  are  to 
be  made  happy  ?  " 

"  Oh,  those  I  am  sorriest  for  —  that  no  one 
else  helps  —  the  genteel  ones,  if  I  can  only  get  at 
them." 

"  I  never  heard  of  genteel  wretches,"  said  Susie. 

Anna  laughed  again.  "  I  was  thinking  it  all 
out  in  the  forest  this  morning,"  she  said,  "  and  it 
suddenly  flashed  across  me  that  this  big  roomy 
house  was  never  meant  not  to  be  used,  and  that 
instead  of  going  to  see  poor  people  and  giving 
them  money  in  the  ordinary  way,  it  would  be  so 
much  better  to  let  women  of  the  better  classes, 


112  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

who  have  no  money,  and  who  are  dependent  and 
miserable,  come  and  live  with  me  and  share  mine, 
and  have   everything  that  I    have  —  exactly  the 
same,  with   no  difference  of  any  sort.     There  is 
room  for  twelve  at  least,  and  wouldn't  it  be  beau- 
tiful to  make  twelve  people,  who  had  lost  all  hope 
and  all  courage,  happy  for  the  rest  of  their  days  ?  " 
"  Oh,  the  girl's  mad  !  "  cried  Susie,  springing  up 
from  the  sofa,  no  longer  able  to  bear  herself.    She 
began  to  walk  about  the  room,  not  knowing  what 
to    say  or  do,   absolutely   without    sympathy   for 
beneficent   impulses,  at  all  times  possessed  of  a 
fine    scorn    for  ideals,  feeling  that  no  argument 
would  be  of  any   avail   with  an  Estcourt  whose 
mind  was  made  up,  shocked  that  good  money,  so 
hard  to  get,  and  so  very  precious  when  got,  should 
be  thrown  away  in  such  a  manner,  bewildered  by 
the  difficulties   of    the    situation,  for   how^  could 
a   girl    of    Anna's    age    live    alone,  and  direct  a 
house   full    of    objects    of    charity?     Would    the 
objects  themselves   be  a  sufficient  chaperonage .? 
Would  her  friends   at   home  think  so.?     Would 
they  not  blame  her,  Susie,  for  having  allowed  all 
this  ?      As   though    she    could   prevent   it !      Or 
would  they  expect  her  to  stay  with  Anna  in  this 
place    till  she    should  marry.?     As    though   any- 
body would  ever  marry  such  a  lunatic  !     "  Mad, 
mad,  mad !  "  cried  Susie,  wringing  her  hands. 

"  I  was  afraid  that  you  wouldn't  like  it,"  said  the 
culprit  on  the  floor,  watching  her  with  a  distressed 
face. 

"  Like  it  ?  Oh  —  mad,  mad !  "  And  she  con- 
tinued to  walk  and  wring  her  hands. 

"Well,  you'll  stay,  then,"   she  said,   suddenly 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  113 

stopping  in  front  of  Anna,  "  I  know  you  well 
enough,  and  shall  waste  no  breath  arguing.  That 
infatuated  old  man's  money  has  turned  your  head 
—  I  didn't  know  it  was  so  weak.  But  look  into 
your  heart  when  I  am  gone  —  you'll  have  time 
enough  and  quiet  enough  —  and  ask  yourself 
honestly  whether  what  you  are  going  to  do  is  a 
proper  way  of  paying  back  all  I  have  done  for  you, 
and  all  the  expense  you  have  been.  You  know 
what  my  wishes  are  about  you,  and  you  don't  care 
one  jot.  Gratitude !  There  isn't  a  spark  of  it  in 
your  whole  body.  Never  was  there  a  more  selfish 
creature,  and  I  can't  believe  that  ingratitude  and 
selfishness  are  the  stuff  that  makes  saints.  Don't 
dare  to  talk  any  more  rot  about  duty  to  your 
neighbour  to  me.  An  Englishwoman  to  come 
and  spend  her  money  on  German  charities " 

"  It's  German  money,"  murmured  Anna. 

"  And  to  live  here  —  to  live  here  —  oh,  mad, 
mad !  "  And  Susie's  indignation  threatening  to 
choke  her,  she  resumed  her  walk  and  her  gesticu- 
lations, her  high  heels  tapping  furiously  on  the 
bare  boards. 

She  longed  to  take  Letty  and  Miss  Leech  away 
with  her  that  very  morning,  and  punish  Anna  by 
leaving  her  entirely  alone ;  but  she  did  not  dare 
because  of  Peter.  Peter  w^as  always  on  Anna's 
side  when  there  were  differences,  and  would  be  sure 
to  do  something  dreadful  when  he  heard  of  it  — 
perhaps  come  and  live  here  too,  and  never  go  back 
to  his  wife  any  more.  Oh,  these  half  Germans ! 
Why  had  she  married  into  a  family  with  such  a 
taint  in  its  blood  ?  "  You  will  have  to  have  some 
one  here,"  she  said,  turning  on  Anna,  who  still  sat 


114  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

on  the  floor  by  the  sofa,  a  look  on  her  face  of 
apology  and  penitence  mixed  with  firmness  that 
Susie  well  knew.  "  How  can  you  stay  here  alone  ? 
I  shall  leave  Miss  Leech  with  you  till  the  end  of 
the  holidays,  though  I  hate  to  seem  to  encourage 
you ;  but  then  you  see  I  do  my  duty  and  always 
have,  though  I  don't  talk  about  it.  When  I  get 
home  I  shall  look  for  some  elderly  woman  who 
won't  mind  coming  here  and  seeing  that  you 
don't  make  yourself  too  much  of  a  by-word,  and 
the  day  she  comes  you  are  to  send  me  back  my 
child." 

"  It  is  good  of  you  to  let  me  keep  Letty,  dear 
usie 

"  Dear  Susie! " 

"  But  I  don't  mean  to  be  a  by-word,  as  you  call 
it,"  continued  Anna,  the  ghost  of  a  smile  lurking 
in  her  eyes,  "  and  I  don't  want  an  Englishwoman. 
What  use  would  she  be  here?  She  wouldn't 
understand  if  it  was  a  German  by-word  that  I 
turned  into.  I  thought  about  asking  the  parson 
how  I  had  better  set  about  getting  a  German  lady 
—  a  grave  and  sober  female,  advanced  in  years,  as 
Uncle  Joachim  wrote." 

"  Oh,  Uncle  Joachim "  Susie  could  hardly 

endure  to  hear  the  name.  It  was  that  odious  old 
man  who  had  filled  Anna's  head  with  these  ideas. 
To  leave  her  money  was  admirable,  but  to  influ- 
ence a  weak  girl's  mind  with  his  wishy-washy 
German  philosophy  about  the  better  life  and  such 
rubbish,  as  he  evidently  had  done  during  those 
excursions  with  her,  was  conduct  so  shameful  that 
she  found  no  words  strong  enough  to  express  her 
opinion  of  it.      Everyone   would  blame  her  for 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  115 

what  had  happened,  everyone  would  jeer  at  her, 
and  say  that  the  moment  an  opportunity  of  escape 
had  presented  itself  Anna  had  seized  it,  preferring 
an  existence  of  loneliness  and  hardship  —  any  sort 
of  existence  —  to  all  the  pleasures  of  civilised 
life  in  Susie's  company.  Peter  would  certainly 
be  very  angry  with  her,  and  reproach  her  with 
not  having  made  Anna  happy  enough.  Happy 
enough !  The  girl  had  cost  her  at  least  three 
hundred  a  year,  what  with  her  expensive  educa- 
tion and  all  her  clothes  since  she  came  out ;  and 
if  three  hundred  good  pounds  spent  on  a  girl 
could  not  make  her  happy,  she'd  like  to  know 
what  could.  And  no  one  —  not  one  of  those 
odious  people  in  London  whom  she  secretly  hated 
—  would  have  a  single  w^ord  of  censure  for  Anna. 
No  one  ever  had.  All  her  vagaries  and  absurdi- 
ties during  the  last  few  years  when  she  had  been 
so  provoking  had  been  smiled  at,  had  been,  Susie 
knew,  put  down  to  her  treatment  of  her.  Treat- 
ment of  her,  indeed !  The  thought  of  these 
things  made  Susie  writhe.  She  had  been  look- 
ing forward  to  the  next  season,  to  having  her  pretty 
sister-in-law  with  her  in  the  happy  mood  she  had 
been  in  since  she  heard  of  her  good  fortune,  and 
had  foreseen  nothing  but  advantages  to  herself 
from  Anna's  presence  in  her  house  —  an  Anna 
spending  and  not  being  spent  upon,  and  no  doubt 
to  be  persuaded  to  share  the  expenses  of  house- 
keeping. And  now  she  must  go  home  by  herself 
to  blame,  scoldings,  and  derision.  The  prospect 
was  almost  more  than  she  could  bear.  She  went 
to  the  door,  opened  it,  and  turning  to  Anna  fired 
a  parting  shot.     "  Let  no  one,"  she  said,  her  voice 


ii6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

shaken  by  deepest  disgust,  "  who  wants  to  be 
happy,  ever  spend  a  penny  on  her  husband's 
relations." 

And  then  she  called  Hilton ;  nor  did  she  leave 
off  calling  till  Hilton  appeared,  and  so  prevented 
Anna  from  saying  another  word. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

But  if  Susie's  rage  was  such  that  she  refused 
to  say  good-bye,  and  terrified  Miss  Leech  while 
she  was  waiting  in  the  hall  for  the  carriage  by 
dark  allusions  to  strait-waistcoats,  when  the  par- 
son was  taken  into  Anna's  confidence  after  dinner 
on  the  following  night  his  raptures  knew  no 
bounds.  "  Liebes,  edeldeiikendes  Prdtilein  !  "  he 
burst  out,  clasping  his  hands  and  gazing  with  a 
moist,  ecstatic  eye  at  this  young  sprig  of  piety. 
He  was  a  good  man,  not  very  learned,  not  very 
refined,  sentimental  exceedingly,  and  much  in- 
clined to  become  tearfully  eloquent  on  such  sub- 
jects as  die  Hebe  kleine  Ki7ider,  die  herrliche  Natur, 
die  Frau  als  Schutzengel,  and  the  sacredness  of  das 
Familien  leben, 

Anna  felt  that  he  was  the  only  person  at  hand 
who  could  perhaps  help  her  to  find  twelve  dejected 
ladies  willing  to  be  made  happy,  and  had  unfolded 
her  plan  to  him  as  tersely  as  possible  in  her  stum- 
bling German,  with  none  of  those  accompanying 
digressions  into  the  question  of  feelings  that  Susie 
stigmatised  as  drivel ;  and  she  sat  uncomfortable 
enough  while  he  burst  forth  into  praises  that 
would  not  end  of  her  goodness  and  nobleness.  It 
is  hard  to  look  anything  but  fatuous  when  some- 
body is  extolling  your  virtues  to  your  face,  and  she 
could  not  help  both  looking  and  feeling  foolish 

117 


ii8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

during  his  extravagant  glorification.  She  did  not 
doubt  his  sincerity,  and  indeed  he  was  absolutely 
sincere,  but  she  wished  that  he  would  be  less 
flowery  and  less  long,  and  would  skip  the  raptures 
and  get  on  to  the  main  subject,  which  was  prac- 
tical advice. 

She  wore  the  simple  white  dress  that  had  caused 
such  a  sensation  in  the  neighbourhood,  a  garment 
that  hung  in  long,  soft  folds,  accentuating  her 
slender  length  of  limb.  Her  bright  hair  was  parted 
and  tucked  behind  her  ears.  Everything  about 
her  breathed  an  absolute  want  of  self-conscious- 
ness and  vanity,  a  perfect  freedom  from  the  least 
thought  of  the  impression  she  might  be  making; 
yet  she  was  beautiful,  and  the  good  man  observ- 
ing her  beauty,  and  supposing  from  what  she  had 
just  told  him  an  equal  beauty  of  character,  for  ever 
afterwards  when  he  thought  of  angels  on  quiet 
Sunday  evenings  in  his  garden,  clothed  them  as 
Anna  was  clothed  that  night,  not  even  shrinking 
from  the  pretty,  bare  shoulders  and  scantily  sleeved 
arms,  but  facing  them  with  a  courage  worthy  of 
a  man,  however  doubtfully  it  might  become  a 
pastor. 

His  wife,  in  her  best  dress,  which  was  also  her 
tightest,  sat  on  the  edge  of  a  chair  some  way  off, 
marvelling  greatly  at  many  things.  She  could 
not  hear  what  it  was  Anna  had  said  to  set  her 
husband  off  exclaiming,  because  the  governess 
persisted  in  trying  to  talk  German  to  her,  and 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  vague  replies.  She 
was  disappointed  by  the  sudden  disappearance  of 
the  sister-in-law,  gone  before  she  had  shown  her- 
self to  a  single  soul ;  astonished  that  she  had  not 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  119 

been  requested  to  sit  on  the  sofa,  in  which  place 
of  honour  the  young  Fraulein  sprawled  in  a  way 
that  would  certainly  ruin  her  clothes ;  disgusted 
that  she  had  not  been  pressed  at  table,  nay,  not 
even  asked,  to  partake  of  every  dish  a  second  time  ; 
indeed,  no  one  had  seemed  to  notice  or  care 
whether  she  ate  anything  at  all.  These  were 
strange  ways.  And  where  were  the  Dellwigs,  those 
great  people  accustomed  to  patronise  her  because 
she  was  the  parson's  wife  ?  Was  it  possible  that 
they  had  not  been  invited  ?  Were  there  then 
quarrels  already  ?  She  could  not  of  course  dream 
that  Anna  would  never  have  thought  of  asking 
her  inspector  and  his  wife  to  dinner,  and  that  in 
her  ignorance  she  regarded  the  parson  as  a  person 
on  an  altogether  higher  social  level  than  the  in- 
spector. These  things,  joined  to  conjectures  as  to 
the  probable  price  by  the  yard  of  Anna's,  Letty's, 
and  Miss  Leech's  clothes,  gave  Frau  Manske  more 
food  for  reflection  than  she  had  had  for  years ;  and 
she  sat  turning  them,  over  slowly  in  her  mind  in  the 
intervals  between  Miss  Leech's  sentences,  while 
her  dress,  which  was  of  silk,  creaked  ominously 
with  every  painful  breath  she  drew. 

"  The  best  way  to  act,"  said  the  parson,  when 
he  had  exhausted  the  greater  part  of  his  raptures, 
"will  be  to  advertise  in  a  newspaper  of  a  Christian 
character." 

"  But  not  in  my  name,"  said  Anna. 

"  No,  no,  we  must  be  discreet  —  we  must  be  very 
discreet.  The  advertisement  must  be  drawn  up  with 
skill.  I  will  make,  simultaneously,  inquiries  among 
my  colleagues  in  the  holy  office,  but  there  must 
also  be  an  advertisement.     What  would  the  gra- 


I20  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

cious  Miss's  opinion  be  of  the  desirability  of  refer- 
ring all  applicants,  in  the  first  instance,  to  me  ? " 

"  Why,  I  think  it  would  be  an  excellent  plan,  if 
you  do  not  mind  the  trouble." 

"  Trouble !  Joy  fills  me  at  the  thought  of 
taking  part  in  this  good  work.  Little  did  I 
think  that  our  poor  corner  of  the  fatherland 
was  to  become  a  holy  place,  a  blessed  refuge  for 
the  world-worn,  a  nook  fragrant  with  charity " 

"  No,  not  charity,"  interposed  Anna. 

"  Whose  perfume,"  continued  the  parson,  deter- 
mined to  finish  his  sentence,  "  whose  perfume  will 
ascend  day  and  night  to  the  attentive  heavens. 
But  such  are  the  celestial  surprises  Providence 
keeps  in  reserve  and  springs  upon  us  when  we 
least  expect  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Anna.  "  But  what  shall  we  put  in 
the  advertisement  ?  " 

'' Ach  ja,  the  advertisement.  In  the  contem- 
plation of  this  beautiful  scheme  I  forget  the 
advertisement."  And  again  the  moisture  of 
ecstasy  suffused  his  eyes,  and  again  he  clasped 
his  hands  and  gazed  at  her  with  his  head  on  one 
side,  almost  as  though  the  young  lady  herself 
were  the  beautiful  scheme. 

Anna  got  up  and  went  to  the  writing-table  to 
fetch  a  pencil  and  a  sheet  of  paper,  anxious  to 
keep  him  to  the  point ;  and  the  parson  watching 
the  graceful  white  figure  was  more  than  ever 
struck  by  her  resemblance  to  his  idea  of  angels. 
He  did  not  consider  how  easy  it  was  to  look  like 
a  being  from  another  world,  a  creature  purified 
of  every  earthly  grossness,  to  eyes  accustomed 
to  behold  the  redundant  exuberance  of  his  own 
excellent  wife. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  121 

She  brought  the  paper,  and  sat  down  again  at 
the  table  on  which  the  lamp  stood.  "  How  does 
one  write  any  sort  of  advertisement  in  German?" 
she  said.  "  I  could  not  write  one  for  a  housemaid. 
And  this  one  must  be  done  so  carefully." 

"Very  true;  for,  alas,  even  ladies  are  some- 
times not  all  that  they  profess  to  be.  Sad  that 
in  a  Christian  country  there  should  be  impostors. 
Doubly  sad  that  there  should  be  any  of  the  female 
sex." 

"  Very  sad,"  said  Anna,  smiling.  "  You  must 
tell  me  which  are  the  impostors  among  those  that 
answer." 

"  Ach,  it  will  not  be  easy,"  said  the  parson,  whose 
experience  of  ladies  was  limited,  and  who  began 
to  see  that  he  was  taking  upon  himself  responsi- 
bilities that  threatened  to  become  grave.  Sup- 
pose he  recommended  an  applicant  who  after- 
wards departed  with  the  gracious  Miss's  spoons 
in  her  bag  ?  "  Ach,  it  will  not  be  easy,"  he  said, 
shaking  his  head. 

"Oh,  well,"  said  Anna,  "we  must  risk  the  im- 
postors. There  may  not  be  any  at  all.  How 
would  you  begin  ?  " 

The  parson  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair, 
folded  his  hands,  cast  up  his  eyes  to  the  ceiling, 
and  meditated.  Anna  waited,  pencil  in  hand, 
ready  to  write  at  his  dictation.  Frau  Manske 
at  the  other  end  of  the  room  was  straining  her 
ears  to  hear  what  was  going  on,  but  Miss  Leech, 
desirous  both  of  entertaining  her  and  of  practising 
her  German,  would  not  cease  from  her  spasmodic 
talk,  even  expecting  her  mistakes  to  be  corrected. 
And  there  were  no  refreshments,  no  glasses  of 


122  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

cooling  beer  being  handed  round,  no  liquid  con- 
solation of  any  sort,  not  even  seltzer  water.  She 
regarded  her  evening  as  a  failure. 

"  A  Christian  lady  of  noble  sentiments,"  dictated 
the  parson,  apparently  reading  the  words  off  the 
ceiling,  "offers  a  home  in  her  house " 

"  Is  this  the  advertisement  ?  "  asked  Anna. 

"  —  offers  a  home  in  her  house " 

"  I  don't  quite  like  the  beginning,"  hesitated 
Anna.  "  I  would  rather  leave  out  about  the 
noble  sentiments." 

"  As  the  gracious  one  pleases.  Modesty  can 
never  be  anything  but  an  ornament.  '  A  Christian 
lady 

"  But  why  a  Christian  lady  1  Why  not  simply 
a  lady?  Are  there,  then,  heathen  ladies  about, 
that  you  insist  on  the  Christian  ?  " 

"  Worse,  worse  than  heathen,"  replied  the  par- 
son, sitting  up  straight,  and  fixing  eyeballs  sud- 
denly grown  fiery  on  her;  and  his  voice  fell  to  a 
hissing  whisper,  in  strange  contrast  to  his  previous 
honeyed  tones.  "  The  heathen  live  in  far-off  lands, 
where  they  keep  quiet  till  our  missionaries  gather 
them  into  the  Church's  fold  —  but  here,  here  in 
our  midst,  here  everywhere,  taking  the  money 
from  our  pockets,  nay,  the  very  bread  from  our 
mouths,  are  the  Jews'' 

Impossible  to  describe  the  tone  of  fear  and 
hatred  with  which  this  word  was  pronounced. 

Anna  gazed  at  him,  mystified.  "  The  Jews  ?  " 
she  echoed.  One  of  her  greatest  friends  at  home 
was  a  Jew,  a  delightful  person,  the  mere  recollec- 
tion of  whom  made  her  smile,  so  witty  and  charm- 
ing and  kind  was  he.     And  of  Jews  in  general 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  123 

she  could  not  remember  to  have  heard  anything 
at  all. 

"  But  not  only  money  from  our  pockets  and 
bread  from  our  mouths,"  continued  the  parson, 
leaning  forward,  his  light  grey  eyes  opened  to 
their  widest  extent,  and  speaking  in  a  whisper 
that  made  her  flesh  begin  the  process  known  as 
creeping,  "  but  blood  —  blood  from  our  veins." 

"  Blood  from  your  veins  ?  "  she  repeated  faintly. 
It  sounded  horrid.  It  offended  her  ears.  It 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  advertisement.  The 
strange  light  in  his  eyes  made  her  think  of  fanati- 
cism, cruelty,  and  the  Middle  Ages.  The  mildest 
of  men  in  general,  as  she  found  later  on,  rabidness 
seized  him  at  the  mere  mention  of  Jews. 

"  Blood,"  he  hissed, "  from  the  veins  of  Christians, 
for  the  performance  of  their  unholy  rites.  Did  the 
gracious  one  never  hear  of  ritual  murders  .f*" 

"  No,"  said  Anna,  shrinking  back,  the  nearer  he 
leaned  towards  her,  "  never  in  my  life.  Don't  tell 
me  now,  for  it  —  it  sounds  interesting.  I  should 
like  to  hear  about  it  all  another  time.  '  A  Christian 
lady  offers  her  home,' "  she  went  on  quickly,  scrib- 
bling that  much  down,  and  then  looking  at  him 
inquiringly. 

"  Ach  ja''  he  said  in  his  natural  voice,  leaning 
back  in  his  chair  and  reducing  his  eyes  to  their 
normal  size,  "I  forgot  again  the  advertisement. 
'  A  Christian  lady  offers  her  home  to  others  of  her 
sex  and  station  who  are  without  means 

"  And  without  friends,  and  without  hope,"  added 
Anna,  writing. 

"  Gut,  gut,  sehr  gutr 

"  She  has  room  in  her  house  in  the  country," 


124  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna  went  on,  writing  as  she  spoke,  "  for  twelve 
such  ladies,  and  will  be  glad  to  share  with  them 
all  that  she  possesses  of  fortune  and  happiness." 

"  Gut^  gut,  sehr  gutr 

"  Is  the  German  correct?  " 

"  Quite  correct.  I  would  add, '  Strictest  inquiries 
will  be  made  before  acceptance  of  any  application 
by  Herr  Pastor  Manske  of  Lohm,  to  whom  all 
letters  are  to  be  addressed.  Applicants  must  be 
ladies  of  good  family,  who  have  fallen  on  evil 
days  by  the  will  of  God.'" 

Anna  wrote  this  down  as  far  as  "  days,"  after 
which  she  put  a  full  stop. 

"  It  pleases  me  not  entirely,"  said  Manske, 
musing ;  "  the  language  is  not  sufficiently  noble. 
Noble  schemes  should  be  alluded  to  in  noble 
words." 

"  But  not  in  an  advertisement." 

"  Why  not  ?  We  ought  not  to  hide  our  good 
thoughts  from  our  fellows,  but  rather  open  our 
hearts,  pour  out  our  feelings,  spend  freely  all  that 
we  have  in  us  of  virtue  and  piety,  for  the  edifica- 
tion and  exhilaration  of  others." 

"  But  not  in  an  advertisement.  I  don't  want  to 
exhilarate  the  public." 

"  And  why  not  exhilarate  the  public,  dear  Miss  ? 
Is  it  not  composed  of  units  of  like  passions  to 
ourselves  ?  Units  on  the  way  to  heaven,  units 
bowed  down  by  the  same  sorrows,  cheered  by  the 
same  hopes,  torn  asunder  by  the  same  temptations 
as  the  gracious  one  and  myself?  "  And  immedi- 
ately he  launched  forth  into  a  flood  of  eloquence 
about  units ;  for  in  Germany  sermons  are  all  ex- 
tempore, and  the  clergy,  from  constant  practice, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  125 

acquire  a  fatal  fluency  of  speech,  bursting  out  in 
the  week  on  the  least  provocation  into  preaching, 
and  not  by  any  known  means  to  be  stopped. 

"  Oh  —  words,  words,  words  !  "  thought  Anna, 
waiting  till  he  should  have  finished.  His  wife, 
hearing  the  well-known  rapid  speech  of  his  in- 
spired moments,  glowed  with  pride.  "  My  Adolf 
surpasses  himself,"  she  thought;  "the  Miss  must 
wonder." 

The  Miss  did  wonder.  She  sat  and  wondered, 
her  elbows  on  the  arms  of  the  chair,  her  finger 
tips  joined  together,  and  her  eyes  fixed  on  her 
finger  tips.  She  did  not  like  to  look  at  him, 
because,  knowing  how  different  was  the  effect 
produced  on  her  to  that  which  he  of  course  imag- 
ined, she  was  sorry  for  him. 

"  It  is  so  good  of  you  to  help  me,"  she  said  with 
gentle  irrelevance  when  the  longed-for  pause  at 
length  came.  "  There  was  something  else  that  I 
wanted  to  consult  you  about.  I  must  look  for  a 
companion  —  an  elderly  German  lady,  who  will 
help  me  in  the  housekeeping." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  comprehend.  But  would  not  the 
twelve  be  sufiicient  companions,  and  helps  in  the 
housekeeping  ? " 

"  No,  because  I  would  not  like  them  to  think 
that  I  want  anything  done  for  me  in  return  for 
their  home.  I  want  them  to  do  exactly  what 
makes  them  happiest.  They  will  all  have  had 
sad  lives,  and  must  waste  no  more  time  in  doing 
things  they  don't  quite  like." 

"Ah  —  noble,  noble,"  murmured  the  parson, 
quite  as  unpractical  as  Anna,  and  fascinated  by 
the  very  vagueness  of  her  plan  of  benevolence. 


126  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  The  companion  I  wish  to  find  would  be  an- 
other sort  of  person,  and  would  help  me  in  return 
for  a  salary." 

"  Certainly,  I  comprehend. 

"  I  thought  perhaps  you  would  tell  me  how  to 
advertise  for  such  a  person  ?  " 

"Surely,  surely.     My  wife  has  a  sister " 

He  paused.  Anna  looked  up  quickly.  She 
had  not  reckoned  with  the  possibility  of  his  wife's 
having  sisters. 

'' Lieber  Schatz''  he  called  to  his  wife,  "what 
does  thy  sister  Helena  do  now  ? " 

Frau  Manske  got  up  and  came  over  to  them 
with  the  alacrity  of  relief.  "  What  dost  thou  say, 
dear  Adolf  ? "  she  asked,  laying  her  hand  on  his 
shoulder.  He  took  it  in  his,  stroked  it,  kissed  it, 
and  finally  put  his  arm  round  her  waist  and  held 
it  there  while  he  talked ;  all  to  the  exceeding  joy 
of  Letty,  to  whom  such  proceedings  had  the  charm 
of  absolute  freshness. 

"Thy  sister  Helena  —  is  she  at  present  in  the 
parental  house  ? "  he  asked,  looking  up  at  her 
fondly,  warmed  into  an  affection  even  greater 
than  ordinary  by  the  circumstance  of  having 
spectators. 

Frau  Manske  was  not  sure.  She  would  write 
and  inquire.  Anna  proposed  that  she  should  sit 
down,  but  the  parson  playfully  held  her  closer. 
"This  is  my  guardian  angel,"  he  explained,  smil- 
ing beatifically  at  her,  "  the  faithful  mother  of  my 
children,  now  grown  up  and  gone  their  several 
ways.  Does  the  gracious  Miss  remember  the 
immortal  lines  of  Schiller,  '  Ehret  die  Fraue7i,  sie 
flechten  und  weben  himmlische  Rosen  ins  irdische 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  127 

Leben '  /  Such  has  been  the  occupation  of  this 
dear  wife,  only  interrupted  by  her  occasional  visits 
to  bathing  resorts,  since  the  day,  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  when  she  consented  to  tread  with 
me  the  path  leading  heavenwards.  Not  a  day  has 
there  been,  except  when  she  was  at  the  seaside, 
without  its  roses." 

"  Oh,"  said  Anna.  She  felt  that  the  remark 
was  not  at  the  height  of  the  situation,  and  added, 
"  How  —  how  interesting."  This  also  struck  her 
as  inadequate ;  but  all  further  inspiration  failing 
her,  she  was  reduced  to  the  silent  sympathy  of 
smiles. 

"  Ten  children  did  the  Lord  bless  us  with,"  con- 
tinued the  parson,  expanding  into  confidences,  "and 
six  it  was  His  will  again  to  remove." 

"  The  drains  —  "  murmured  Frau  Manske. 

"  Yes,  truly  the  drains  in  the  town  where  we 
lived  then  were  bad,  very  bad.  But  one  must  not 
question  the  wisdom  of  Providence." 

"  No,  but  one  might  mend "    Anna  stopped, 

feeling  that  under  some  circumstances  even  the 
mending  of  drains  might  be  impious.  She  had 
heard  so  much  about  piety  and  Providence  within 
the  last  two  hours  that  she  was  confused,  and  was 
no  longer  clear  as  to  the  exact  limit  of  conduct 
beyond  which  a  flying  in  the  face  of  Providence 
might  be  said  to  begin. 

But  the  parson,  clasping  his  wife  to  his  side, 
paid  no  heed  to  anything  she  might  be  saying, 
for  he  was  already  well  on  in  a  detailed  account 
of  the  personal  appearance,  habits,  and  career  of 
his  four  remaining  children,  and  dwelt  so  fondly 
on  each  in  turn  that  he  forgot  sister  Helena  and 


128  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  second  advertisement;  and  when  he  had  ex- 
plained all  their  numerous  excellencies  and  harm- 
less idiosyncrasies,  including  their  preferences  in 
matters  of  food  and  drink,  he  abruptly  quitted  this 
topic,  and  proceeded  to  expound  Anna's  scheme 
to  his  wife,  who  had  listened  with  ill-concealed 
impatience  to  the  first  part  of  his  discourse,  con- 
sumed as  she  was  with  curiosity  to  hear  what  it 
was  that  Anna  had  confided  to  him. 

So  Anna  had  to  listen  to  the  raptures  all  over 
again.  The  eager  interest  of  the  wife  disturbed 
her.  She  doubted  whether  Frau  Manske  had  any 
real  sympathy  with  her  plan.  Her  inquisitiveness 
was  unquestionable;  but  Anna  felt  that  opening 
her  heart  to  the  parson  and  opening  it  to  his  wife 
were  two  different  things.  Though  he  was  wordy, 
he  was  certainly  enthusiastic ;  his  wife,  on  the 
other  hand,  appeared  to  be  chiefly  interested  in 
the  question  of  cost.  "  The  cost  will  be  colossal," 
she  said,  surveying  Anna  from  head  to  foot.  "  But 
the  gracious  Miss  is  rich,"  she  added. 

Anna  began  to  examine  her  finger  tips  again. 

On  the  way  home  through  the  dark  fields,  after 
having  criticised  each  dish  of  the  dinner  and  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  the  entertainment  was 
not  worthy  of  such  a  wealthy  lady,  Frau  Manske 
observed  to  her  husband  that  it  was  true,  then, 
what  she  had  always  heard  of  the  English,  that 
they  were  peculiarly  liable  to  prolonged  attacks 
of  craziness. 

"  Craziness  !  Thou  callest  this  craziness  ?  It 
is  my  wife,  the  wife  of  a  pastor,  that  I  hear  apply- 
ing such  a  word  to  so  beautiful,  so  Christian,  a 
scheme  ? " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  129 

"But  the  good  money  —  to  give  it  all  away. 
Yes,  it  is  very  Christian,  but  it  is  also  crazy." 

"  Woman,  shut  thy  mouth  !  "  cried  the  parson, 
beside  himself  with  indignation  at  hearing  such 
sentiments  from  such  lips. 

Clearly  Frau  Manske  was  not  at  that  moment 
engaged  with  her  roses. 


CHAPTER   IX 

The  next  morning  early,  Anna  went  over  to 
the  farm  to  ask  Dellwig  to  lend  her  any  news- 
papers he  might  have.  She  was  anxious  to  adver- 
tise as  soon  as  possible  for  a  companion,  and  now 
that  she  knew  of  the  existence  of  sister  Helena, 
thought  it  better  to  write  this  advertisement  with- 
out the  parson's  aid,  copying  any  other  one  of  the 
sort  that  she  might  see  in  the  papers.  Until  she 
had  secured  the  services  of  a  German  lady  who 
would  tell  her  how  to  set  about  the  reforms  she 
intended  making  in  her  house,  she  was  perfectly 
helpless.  She  wanted  to  put  her  home  in  order 
quickly,  so  that  the  twelve  unhappy  ones  should 
not  be  kept  waiting ;  and  there  were  many  things 
to  be  done.  Servants,  furniture,  everything,  was 
necessary,  and  she  did  not  know  where  such  things 
were  to  be  had.  She  did  not  even  know  where 
washerwomen  were  obtainable,  and  Frau  Dellwig 
never  seemed  to  be  at  home  when  she  sent  for  her, 
or  went  to  her  seeking  information.  On  Good 
Friday,  after  Susie's  departure,  she  had  sent  a 
message  to  the  farm  desiring  the  attendance  of 
the  inspector's  wife,  whom  she  wished  to  consult 
about  the  dinner  to  be  prepared  for  the  Manskes, 
all  provisions  apparently  passing  through  Frau 
Dellwig's  hands ;  and  she  had  been  told  that  the 
lady  was  at  church.      On  Saturday  morning,  dis- 

130 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  131 

turbed  by  the  emptiness  of  her  larder  and  the 
imminence  of  her  guests,  she  had  gone  herself  to 
the  farm,  but  was  told  that  the  lady  was  in  the 
cow-sheds  —  in  which  cow-shed  nobody  exactly 
knew.  Anna  had  been  forced  to  ask  Dellwig 
about  the  food.  On  Sunday  she  took  Letty  with 
her,  abashed  by  the  whisperings  and  starings  she 
had  had  to  endure  when  she  went  alone.  Nor  on 
this  occasion  did  she  see  the  inspector's  wife,  and 
she  began  to  wonder  what  had  become  of  her. 

The  Dell  wigs'  wrath  and  amazement  when  they 
found  that  the  parson  and  his  wife  had  been  invited 
to  dinner  and  they  themselves  left  out  was  inde- 
scribable. Never  had  such  an  insult  been  offered 
them.  They  had  always  been  the  first  people  of 
their  class  in  the  place,  always  held  their  heads 
up  and  condescended  to  the  clergy,  always  been 
helped  first  at  table,  gone  first  through  doors,  sat 
in  the  right-hand  corners  of  sofas.  If  he  was 
furious,  she  was  still  more  so,  filled  with  venom 
and  hatred  unutterable  for  the  innocent,  but  it 
must  be  added  overjoyed,  Frau  Manske;  and 
though  her  own  interest  demanded  it,  she  w^as 
altog'ether  unable  to  bring  herself  to  meet  Anna 
for  the  purpose,  as  she  knew,  of  being  consulted 
about  the  menu  to  be  offered  to  the  wretched 
upstart.  Indeed,  Frau  Dellwig's  position  was 
similar  to  that  painful  one  in  which  Susie  found 
herself  when  her  influential  London  acquaintance 
left  her  out  of  the  invitations  to  the  wedding ;  on 
which  occasion,  as  we  know,  Susie  had  been  con- 
strained to  flee  to  Germany  in  order  to  escape  the 
comments  of  her  friends.  Frau  Dellwig  could  not 
flee  anywhere.      She  was  obliged  to  stay  where 


132  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

she  was  and  bear  it  as  best  she  might,  humiUated 
in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  neighbourhood,  an  object 
of  derision  to  her  very  milkmaids.  Philosophers 
smile  at  such  trials ;  but  to  persons  who  are  not 
philosophers,  and  at  Kleinwalde  these  were  in  the 
majority,  they  are  more  difficult  to  endure  than 
any  family  bereavement.  There  is  no  dignity 
about  them,  and  friends,  instead  of  sympathising, 
rejoice  more  or  less  openly  according  to  the  degree 
of  their  civilisation.  The  degree  of  civilisation 
among  Frau  Dellwig's  friends  was  not  great,  and 
the  rejoicings  on  the  next  Sunday  when  they  all 
met  would  be  but  ill-concealed;  there  was  no 
escape  from  them,  they  had  to  be  faced,  and  the 
malicious  condolences  accepted  with  what  counte- 
nance she  could.  Instead  of  making  sausages, 
therefore,  she  shut  herself  in  her  bedroom  and  wept. 

And  so  it  came  about  that  the  unconscious 
Anna,  whose  one  desire  was  to  live  at  peace  with 
her  neighbours,  made  two  enemies  within  two 
days.  "All  women,"  said  Dellwig  to  his  wife, 
"high  and  low,  are  alike.  Unless  they  have  a 
husband  to  keep  them  in  their  right  places,  they 
become  religious  and  run  after  pastors.  Manske 
has  wormed  himself  in  very  cleverly,  truly  very 
cleverly.  But  we  will  worm  him  out  again  with 
equal  cleverness.  As  for  his  wife,  what  canst  thou 
expect  from  so  great  a  fool  ?  " 

"  No,  indeed,  from  her  I  expect  nothing,"  re- 
plied his  wife,  tossing  her  head,  "but  from  the 
niece  of  our  late  master  I  expected  the  behaviour 
of  a  lady."  And  at  that  moment,  the  niece  of  her 
late  master  being  announced,  she  fled  into  her 
bedroom. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  133 

Anna,  friendly  as  ever,  specially  kind  to  Dell- 
wig  since  his  tears  on  the  night  of  her  arrival, 
came  with  Letty  into  the  gloomy  little  office 
where  he  was  working,  with  all  the  morning  sun- 
shine in  her  face.  Though  she  was  perplexed  by 
many  things,  she  was  intensely  happy.  The  per- 
fect freedom,  after  her  years  of  servitude,  was  like 
heaven.  Here  she  was  in  her  own  home,  from 
which  nobody  could  take  her,  free  to  arrange  her 
life  as  she  chose.  Oh,  it  was  a  beautiful  world, 
and  this  the  most  beautiful  corner  of  it !  She 
was  sure  the  sky  was  bluer  at  Kleinwalde  than 
in  other  places,  and  that  the  larks  sang  louder. 
And  then  was  she  not  on  the  very  verge  of  realis- 
ing her  dreams  of  bringing  the  light  of  happiness 
into  dark  and  hopeless  lives  ?  Oh,  the  beautiful, 
beautiful  world !  She  came  into  Dellwig's  room 
with  the  love  of  it  shining  in  her  eyes. 

He  was  as  obsequious  as  ever,  for  unfortunately 
his  bread  and  butter  depended  on  this  perverse 
young  woman ;  but  he  was  also  graver  and  less 
talkative,  considering  within  himself  that  he  could 
not  be  expected  to  pass  over  such  a  slight  without 
some  alteration  in  his  manner.  He  ought,  he  felt, 
to  show  that  he  was  pained,  and  he  ought  to  show 
it  so  unmistakably  that  she  would  perhaps  be  led 
to  offer  some  explanation  of  her  conduct.  Accord- 
ingly he  assumed  the  subdued  behaviour  of  one 
whose  feelings  have  been  hurt,  and  Anna  thought 
how  greatly  he  improved  on  acquaintance. 

He  would  have  given  much  to  know  why  she 
wanted  the  papers,  for  surely  it  was  unusual  for 
women  to  read  newspapers  ?  When  there  was  a 
murder,  or  anything  of  that  sort,  his  wife  liked  to 


134  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

see  them,  but  not  at  other  times.  "  Is  the  gracious 
Miss  interested  in  politics  ?  "  he  inquired,  as  he  put 
several  together. 

"  No,  not  particularly,"  said  Anna ;  "  at  least,  not 
yet  in  German  politics.  I  must  live  here  a  little 
while  first." 

"  In  —  in  literature,  perhaps  ?  " 

"  No,  not  particularly.  I  know  so  little  about 
German  books." 

"  There  are  some  well-written  articles  occasion- 
ally on  the  modes  in  ladies'  dresses." 

"Really?" 

"  My  wife  tells  me  she  often  gets  hints  from 
them  as  to  what  is  being  worn.  Ladies,  we 
know,"  he  added  with  a  superior  smile,  checked, 
however,  on  his  remembering  that  he  was  pained, 
"  are  interested  in  these  matters." 

"  Yes,  they  are,"  agreed  Anna,  smiling,  and 
holding  out  her  hand  for  the  papers. 

"  Ah,  then,  it  is  that  that  the  gracious  Miss 
wishes  to  read  ? "  he  said  quickly. 

"  No,  not  particularly,"  said  Anna,  who  began 
to  see  that  he  too  suffered  from  the  prevailing 
inquisitiveness.  Besides,  she  was  too  much  afraid 
of  his  having  sisters,  or  of  his  wife's  having  sisters, 
eager  to  come  and  be  a  blessing  to  her,  to  tell  him 
about  her  advertisement. 

On  the  steps  of  his  house,  to  which  Dellwig 
accompanied  the  two  girls,  stood  a  man  who  had 
just  got  off  his  horse.  He  was  pulling  off  his 
gloves  as  he  watched  it  being  led  away  by  a  boy. 
He  had  his  back  to  Anna,  and  she  looked  at  it 
interested,  for  it  was  unlike  any  back  she  had  yet 
seen  in  Kleinwalde,  in  that  it  was  the  back  of  a 
gentlerhan. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  135 

"It  is  Herr  von  Lohm,"said  Dellwig,  "  who  has 
business  here  this  morning.  Some  of  our  people 
unfortunately  drink  too  much  on  holidays  like 
Good  Friday,  and  there  are  quarrels.  I  explained 
to  the  gracious  one  that  he  is  our  Amtsvorsteher." 

Herr  von  Lohm  turned  at  the  sound  of  Dell- 
wig's  voice,  and  took  off  his  hat.  "  Pray  present 
me  to  these  ladies,"  he  said  to  Dellwig,  and 
bowed  as  gravely  to  Letty  as  to  Anna,  to  her 
great  satisfaction. 

"So  this  is  my  neighbour.?"  thought  Anna, 
looking  down  at  him  from  the  higher  step  on 
which  she  stood  with  her  papers  under  her  arm. 

"  So  this  is  old  Joachim's  niece,  of  whom  he  was 
always  talking  ?  "  thought  Lohm,  looking  up  at 
her.  "Wise  old  man  to  leave  the  place  to  her 
instead  of  to  those  unpleasant  sons."  And  he 
proceeded  to  make  a  few  conventional  remarks, 
hoping  that  she  liked  her  new  home  and  would 
soon  be  quite  used  to  the  country  life.  "  It  is  very 
quiet  and  lonely  for  a  lady  not  used  to  our  kind  of 
country,  with  its  big  estates  and  few  neighbours," 
he  said  in  English.  "  May  I  talk  English  to  you  ? 
It  gives  me  pleasure  to  do  so." 

"  Please  do,"  said  Anna.  Here  was  a  person 
who  might  be  very  helpful  to  her  if  ever  she 
reached  her  wits'  end ;  and  how  nice  he  looked, 
how  clean,  and  what  a  pleasant  voice  he  had,  fall- 
ing so  gratefully  on  ears  already  aching  with  Dell- 
wig's  shouts  and  the  parson's  emphatic  oratory. 

He  was  somewhere  between  thirty  and  forty, 
not  young  at  all,  she  thought,  having  herself  never 
got  out  of  the  habit  of  feeling  very  young;  and 
beyond  being  long  and  wiry,  with  not  even  a  ten- 


136  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

dency  to  fat,  as  she  noticed  with  pleasure,  there 
was  nothing  striking  about  him.  His  top  boots 
and  his  green  Norfolk  jacket  and  green  felt  hat 
with  a  little  feather  stuck  in  it  gave  him  an  air 
of  being  a  sportsman.  It  was  refreshing  to  come 
across  him,  if  only  because  he  did  not  bow.  Also, 
considering  him  from  the  top  of  the  steps,  she  be- 
came suddenly  conscious  that  Dellwig  and  the 
parson  neglected  their  persons  more  than  was 
seemly.  They  were  both  no  doubt  very  excel- 
lent ;  but  she  did  like  nicely  washed  men. 

Herr  von  Lohm  began  to  talk  about  Uncle  Joa- 
chim, with  whom  he  had  been  very  intimate. 
Anna  came  down  the  steps  and  he  went  a  few 
yards  with  her,  leaving  Dellwig  standing  at  the 
door,  and  followed  by  the  eyes  of  Dellwig's  wife, 
concealed  behind  her  bedroom  curtain. 

"  I  shall  be  with  you  in  one  moment,"  called 
Lohm  over  his  shoulder. 

"  GuC  said  Dellwig ;  and  he  went  in  to  tell  his 
wife  that  these  English  ladies  were  very  free  with 
gentlemen,  and  to  bid  her  mark  his  words  that 
Lohm  and  Kleinwalde  would  before  long  be  one 
estate. 

"  And  us  ?  What  will  become  of  us  ? "  she 
asked,  eying  him  anxiously. 

"  I  too  would  like  to  know  that,"  replied  her 
husband.  "  This  all  comes  of  leaving  land  away 
from  the  natural  heirs."  And  with  great  energy 
he  proceeded  to  curse  the  memory  of  his  late 
master. 

Lohm's  English  was  so  good  that  it  astonished 
Anna.  It  was  stiff  and  slow,  but  he  made  no  mis- 
takes at  all.     His  manner  was  grave,  and  looking 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  137 

at  him  more  attentively  she  saw  traces  on  his  face 
of  much  hard  work  and  anxiety.  He  told  her  that 
his  mother  had  been  a  cousin  of  Uncle  Joachim's 
wife.  "  So  that  there  is  a  slight  relationship  by 
marriage  existing  between  us,"  he  said. 

"  Very  slight,"  said  Anna,  smiling,  "faint  almost 
beyond  recognition." 

"  Does  your  niece  stay  with  you  for  an  indefinite 
period }  "  he  asked.  "  I  cannot  avoid  knowing 
that  this  young  lady  is  your  niece,"  he  added  with 
a  smile,  "  and  that  she  is  here  with  her  governess, 
and  that  Lady  Estcourt  left  suddenly  on  Good 
Friday,  because  all  that  concerns  you  is  of  the 
greatest  interest  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  quiet 
place,  and  they  talk  of  little  else." 

"  How  long  will  it  take  them  to  get  used  to  me? 
I  don't  like  being  an  object  of  interest.  No,  Letty 
is  going  home  as  soon  as  I  have  found  a  com- 
panion. That  is  why  I  am  taking  the  inspector's 
newspapers  home  with  me.  I  can't  construct  an 
advertisement  out  of  my  stores  of  German,  and 
am  going  to  see  if  I  can  find  something  that  will 
serve  as  model." 

"  Oh,  may  I  help  you  ?  What  difificulties  you 
must  meet  with  every  hour  of  the  day !  " 

"  I  do,"  agreed  Anna,  thinking  of  all  there  was 
to  be  done  before  she  could  open  her  doors  and 
her  arms  to  the  twelve. 

"  Any  service  that  I  can  render  to  my  oldest 
friend's  niece  will  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure. 
Will  you  allow  me  to  send  the  advertisement  for 
you  ?  You  can  hardly  know  how  or  where  to 
send  it." 

"  I  don't,"  said  Anna.     "  It  would  be  very  kind 


138  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

—  I  really  would  be  grateful.     It  is  so  important 
that  I  should  find  somebody  soon." 

"  It  is  of  the  first  importance,"  said  Lohm. 

"  Has  the  parson  told  him  of  my  plans  already  ?'* 
thought  Anna.  But  Lohm  had  not  seen  Manske 
that  morning,  and  was  only  picturing  this  little 
thing  to  himself,  this  dainty  little  lady,  used  to 
such  a  different  life,  alone  in  the  empty  house, 
struggling  with  her  small  supply  of  German  to 
make  the  two  raw  servants  understand  her  ways. 
Anna  was  not  a  little  thing  at  all,  and  she  would 
have  been  half-amused  and  half-indignant  if  she 
had  known  that  that  was  the  impression  she  had 
made  on  him. 

"  My  sister,  Grafin  Hasdorf,"  he  began  — 
"  Heavens,"  she  thought,  "  has  he  got  an  unat- 
tached sister  ?  "  —  "  sometimes  stays  with  me  with 
her  children,  and  when  she  is  here  will  be  able  to 
help  you  in  many  ways  if  you  will  allow  her  to. 
She  too  knew  your  uncle  from  her  childhood. 
She  will  be  greatly  interested  to  know  that  you 
have  had  the  courage  to  settle  here." 

"  Courage  ? "  echoed  Anna.  "  Why,  I  love  it. 
It's  the  most  beautiful  place  in  the  world." 

Lohm  looked  doubtfully  at  her  for  a  moment; 
but  there  was  no  mistaking  the  sincerity  of  those 
eyes.  "  It  is  pleasant  to  hear  you  say  so,"  he  said. 
"  My  sister  Trudi  would  scarcely  credit  her  ears 
if  she  were  present.  To  her  it  is  a  terrible  place, 
and  she  pities  me  with  all  her  heart  because  my 
lot  is  cast  in  it." 

Anna  laughed.  She  thought  she  knew  very 
well  what  sister  Trudis  were  like.  "  I  do  not  pity 
you,"  she  said ;  "  I  couldn't  pity  any  being  who 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  139 

lived  in  this  air,  and  under  this  sky.  Look  how 
blue  it  is  —  and  the  geese  —  did  you  ever  see  such 
white  geese  ?  " 

A  flock  of  geese  were  being  driven  across  the 
sunny  yard,  dazzHng  in  their  whiteness.  Anna 
lifted  up  her  face  to  the  sun  and  drew  in  a  long 
breath  of  the  sharp  air.  She  forgot  Lohm  for  a 
moment  —  it  was  such  a  glorious  Easter  Sunday, 
and  the  world  was  so  full  of  the  abundant  gifts 
of  God. 

Dellwig,  who  had  been  watching  them  from  his 
wife's  window,  thought  that  the  brawlers  who  w^ere 
going  to  be  fined  had  been  kept  waiting  long 
enough,  and  came  out  again  on  to  the  steps. 

Lohm  saw  him,  and  felt  that  he  must  go.  "  I 
must  do  my  business,"  he  said,  "  but  as  you  have 
given  me  permission  I  will  send  an  advertisement 
to  the  papers  to-night.  Of  course  you  desire  to 
have  an  elderly  lady  of  good  family  ?  " 

"Yes,  but  not  too  elderly — not  so  elderly  that 
she  won't  be  able  to  work.  There  will  be  so  much 
to  do,  so  very  much  to  do." 

Lohm  went  away  wondering  w^hat  work  there 
could  possibly  be,  except  the  agreeable  and  easy 
work  of  seeing  that  this  young  lady  was  properly 
fed,  and  properly  petted,  and  in  every  way  taken 
care  of. 


CHAPTER   X 

He  sent  the  advertisement  by  the  evening  post 
to  two  or  three  of  the  best  newspapers.     He  had 
seen  the  pastor  after  morning  church,  who  had  at 
once  poured  into  his  ears  all  about  Anna's  twelve 
ladies,    garnishing    the    story    with    interjections 
warmly  appreciative  of  the  action  of  Providence 
in    the    matter.      Lohm    had    been    considerably 
astonished,  but  had  said  little ;  it  was  not  his  way 
to  say  much  at  any  time  to  the  parson,  and  the 
ecstasies  about  the  new  neighbour  jarred  on  him. 
Miss  Estcourt's  need  of  advice  must  have  been 
desperate  for  her  to   have   confided  in  Manske. 
He  appreciated  his  good  qualities,  but  his  family 
had  never  been  intimate  with  the  parson ;  perhaps 
because  from   time  immemorial  the  Lohms  had 
been  chiefly  males,  and  the  attitude  of  male  Ger- 
mans towards  parsons  is,  at  its  best,  one  of  indul- 
gence.    This  Lohm  restricted  his  dealings  with 
him,  as  his  father  had  done  before  him,  to  the  nec- 
essary deliberations  on  the  treatment  of  the  sick 
and  poor,  and  to  of^cial  meetings  in  the  school- 
house.     He  was  invariably  kind  to  him,  and  lent 
as  willing  an  ear  as  his  slender  purse  allowed  to 
applications   for   assistance ;  but  the  idea  of  dis- 
cussing spiritual  experiences  with  him,  or,  in  times 
of  personal  sorrow,  of  dwelling  conversationally  on 
his    griefs,  would    never   have    occurred   to  him. 

140 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  141 

The  easy  familiarity  with  which  Manske  spoke 
of  the  Deity  offended  his  taste.  These  things, 
these  sacred  and  awful  mysteries,  were  the  secrets 
between  the  soul  and  its  God.  No  man,  thought 
Lohm,  should  dare  to  touch  with  profane  ques- 
tioning the  veil  shrouding  his  neighbour's  inner 
life.  Manske,  however,  knew  no  fear  and  no 
compunction.  He  would  ask  the  most  tremen- 
dous questions  between  two  mouthfuls  of  pudding, 
backing  himself  up  with  the  whole  authority  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  besides  the  Scriptures ;  and 
if  the  poor  people  and  the  partly  educated  liked 
it,  and  were  edified,  and  enjoyed  stirring  up  and 
talking  over  their  religious  emotions  almost  as 
much  as  they  did  the  latest  village  scandal,  Lohm, 
who  had  no  taste  either  for  scandal  or  emotions, 
kept  the  parson  at  arm's  length. 

He  thought  a  good  deal  about  what  Manske 
had  told  him  during  the  afternoon.  She  had 
gone  to  the  parson,  then,  for  help,  because  there 
was  no  one  else  to  go  to.  Poor  little  thing.  He 
could  imagine  the  sort  of  speeches  Manske  had 
made  her,  and  the  sort  of  advertisement  he  would 
have  told  her  to  write.  Poor  little  thing.  Well, 
ivhat  he  could  do  was  to  put  her  in  the  way  of 
getting  a  companion  as  quickly  as  possible,  and 
a  very  sensible,  capable  woman  it  ought  to  be. 
No  wonder  she  was  not  to  be  past  hard  w^ork. 
Work  there  would  certainly  be,  with  twelve  women 
in  the  house  undergoing  the  process  of  being 
made  happy.  Lohm  could  not  help  smiling  at 
the  plan.  He  thought  of  Miss  Estcourt  courage- 
ously trying  to  demolish  the  crust  of  dejection 
that  had  formed  in  the  course  of  years  over  the 


142  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

hearts  of  her  patients,  and  he  trusted  that  she 
would  not  exhaust  her  own  youth  and  joyousness 
in  the  effort.  Perhaps  she  would  succeed.  He 
did  not  remember  having  heard  of  any  scheme 
quite  analogous,  and  possibly  she  would  override 
all  obstacles  in  triumph,  and  the  patients  who 
entered  her  home  with  the  burden  of  their  past 
misery  heavy  upon  them,  would  develop  in  the 
sunshine  of  her  presence  into  twelve  riotously 
jovial  ladies.  But  would  not  she  herself  suffer.'* 
Would  not  her  own  strength  and  hopefulness  be 
sapped  up  by  those  she  benefited  ?  He  could  not 
think  that  it  would  be  to  the  advantage  of  the 
world  at  large  to  substitute  twelve,  nay  fifty,  nay 
any  number  of  jolly  old  ladies,  for  one  girl  with 
such  sweet  and  joyous  eyes. 

This,  of  course,  was  the  purely  masculine  point 
of  view.  The  women  to  be  benefited  —  why  he 
thought  of  them  as  old  is  not  clear,  for  you  need 
not  be  old  to  be  unhappy  —  would  have  protested, 
probably,  with  indignant  cries  that  individually 
they  were  well  worth  Miss  Estcourt,  in  any  case 
were  every  bit  as  good  as  she  was,  and  collectively 
—  oh,  absurd. 

He  thought  of  his  sister  Trudi.  Perhaps  she 
knew  of  some  one  who  would  be  both  kind  and 
clever,  and  protect  Miss  Estcourt  in  some  meas- 
ure from  the  twelve.  Trudi's  friends,  it  is  true, 
were  not  the  sort  among  whom  staid  companions 
are  found.  Their  husbands  were  chiefly  lieu- 
tenants, and  they  spent  their  time  at  races.  They 
lived  in  flats  in  Hanover,  where  the  regiment  was 
quartered,  and  flats  are  easy  to  manage,  and  none 
of  these  young  women  would  endure,  he  supposed, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  143 

to  have  an  elderly  companion  always  hanging 
round.  Still,  there  was  a  remote  possibility  that 
some  one  of  them  might  be  able  to  recommend 
a  suitable  person.  If  Trudi  were  staying  with 
him  now  she  would  be  a  great  help ;  not  so  much 
because  of  what  she  would  do,  but  because  he 
could  go  with  her  to  Kleinwalde,  and  Miss  Est- 
court  could  come  to  his  house  when  she  wanted 
anything,  and  need  not  depend  solely  on  the  par- 
son. It  was  his  duty,  considering  old  Joachim's 
unchanging  kindness  towards  him,  and  the  pains 
the  old  man  had  taken  to  help  him  in  the  manage- 
ment of  his  estate,  and  to  encourage  him  at  a 
time  when  he  greatly  needed  help  and  encourage- 
ment, to  do  all  that  lay  in  his  power  for  old  Joa- 
chim's niece.  When  he  heard  that  she  was  coming 
he  had  decided  that  this  was  his  plain  duty :  that 
she  was  so  prett}^  so  adorably  pretty  and  simple 
and  friendly  only  made  it  an  unusually  pleasant 
one.  "  I  will  write  to  Trudi,"  he  thought,  "  and 
ask  her  to  come  over  for  a  week  or  two." 

He  sat  down  at  his  writing-table  in  the  big  win- 
dow overlooking  the  farmyard,  and  began  the  let- 
ter. But  he  felt  that  it  would  be  absurd  to  ask 
her  to  come  on  Miss  Estcourt's  account.  Why 
should  she  do  anything  for  Miss  Estcourt,  and  why 
should  he  want  his  sister  to  do  anything  for  her? 
That  would  be  the  first  thing  that  would  strike 
the  astute  Trudi.  So  he  merely  wrote  reminding 
her  that  she  had  not  stayed  with  him  since  the 
previous  summer,  and  suggested  that  she  should 
come  for  a  few  days  with  her  children,  now  that 
the  spring  was  coming  and  the  snow  had  gone. 
"  The  woods  will  soon  be  blue  with  anemones," 


144  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

he  wrote,  though  he  well  knew  that  Trudi's  atti- 
tude towards  anemones  was  cold.  Perhaps  her 
little  boys  would  like  to  pick  them  ;  anyhow,  some 
sort  of  an  inducement  had  to  be  held  out. 

Outside  his  window  was  a  duck-pond,  thin 
sheets  of  ice  still  floating  in  broken  pieces  on  its 
surface ;  behind  the  duck-pond  was  the  dairy ;  and 
on  either  side  of  the  yard  were  cow-sheds  and  pig- 
styes.  The  farm  carts  stood  in  a  peaceful  Sunday 
row  down  one  side,  and  at  the  other  end  of  the 
yard,  shutting  out  the  same  view  of  the  sea  and 
island  that  Anna  saw  from  her  bedroom  window, 
was  a  mountainous  range  of  manure.  When  Trudi 
came,  she  never  entered  the  rooms  on  this  side  of 
the  house,  because,  as  she  explained,  it  was  one  of 
her  peculiarities  not  to  like  manure;  and  she  slept 
and  ate  and  aired  her  opinions  on  the  west  side, 
where  the  garden  lay  between  the  house  and  the 
road.  She  never  would  have  come  to  Lohm  at 
all,  not  being  burdened  with  any  undue  sentiment 
in  regard  to  ties  of  blood,  if  it  had  not  been  neces- 
sary to  go  somewhere  in  the  summer,  and  if  the 
other  places  had  not  been  beyond  the  resources  of 
the  family  purse,  always  at  its  emptiest  when  the 
racing  season  was  over  and  the  card-playing  at  an 
end.  As  it  was,  this  was  a  cheap  and  convenient 
haven,  and  her  brother  Axel  was  kind  to  the  little 
boys,  and  not  too  angry  when  they  plundered  his 
apple-trees,  damaged  the  knees  of  his  ponies,  and 
did  their  best  to  twist  off  the  tails  of  his  discon- 
certed sucking-pigs. 

He  was  the  eldest  of  three  brothers,  and  she 
came  last.  She  was  twenty-six,  and  he  was  ten 
years   older.      When    the  father   died,  the  land 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  145 

ought  properly  to  have  been  divided  between  the 
four  children,  but  such  a  proceeding  would  have 
been  extremely  inconvenient,  and  the  two  younger 
brothers,  and  the  sister  just  married,  agreed  to  ac- 
cept their  share  in  money,  and  to  leave  the  estate 
entirely  to  Axel.  It  was  the  best  course  to  take,  but 
it  threw  Axel  into  difficulties  that  continued  for 
years.  His  father,  with  four  times  the  money,  had 
lived  very  comfortably  at  Lohm,  and  the  children 
had  been  brought  up  in  prosperity.  For  eight  years 
his  eldest  son  had  farmed  the  estate  with  a  quarter 
the  means,  and  had  found  it  so  far  from  simple  that 
his  hair  had  turned  grey  in  the  process.  It  needed 
considerable  skill  and  vigilance  to  enable  a  man 
to  extract  a  decent  living  from  the  soil  of  Lohm. 
Part  of  it  was  too  boggy,  and  part  of  it  too  sandy, 
and  the  trees  had  all  been  cut  down  thirty  years 
before  by  a  bland  grandfather,  serenely  indifferent 
to  the  opinion  of  posterity.  Axel's  first  work  had 
been  to  make  plantations  of  young  firs  and  pines 
wherever  the  soil  was  poorest,  and  when  he  rode 
through  the  beautiful  Kleinwalde  forest  he  en- 
deavoured to  extract  what  pleasure  he  could  from 
the  thought  that  in  a  hundred  years  Lohm  too 
would  have  a  forest.  But  the  pleasure  to  be  ex- 
tracted from  this  thought  w^as  of  a  surprisingly 
subdued  quality.  All  his  pleasures  were  of  a  sub- 
dued quality.  His  days  were  made  up  of  hard 
work,  of  that  effort  to  induce  both  ends  to  meet 
which  knocks  the  savour  out  of  life  with  such  a 
singular  completeness.  He  was  born  with  an  un- 
comfortably exact  conception  of  duty;  and  now 
at  the  end  of  the  best  half  of  his  life,  after  years 
of  struggling  on  that  poor  soil  against  the   odds 


146  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

of  that  stern  climate,  this  conception  had  shaped 
itself  into  a  fixed  beUef  that  the  one  thing  entirely 
beautiful,  the  one  thing  wholly  worthy  of  a  man's 
ambition,  is  the  right  doing  of  his  duty.  So,  he 
thought,  shall  a  man  have  peace  at  the  last. 

It  is  a  way  of  thinking  common  to  the  edu- 
cated dwellers  in  solitary  places,  who  have  not 
been  very  successful.  Trudi  scorned  it.  "  Peace," 
she  said,  "at  the  last,  is  no  good  at  all.  What 
one  wants  is  peace  at  the  beginning  and  in  the 
middle.  But  you  only  think  stuff  like  that  be- 
cause you  haven't  got  enough  money.  Poor  peo- 
ple always  talk  about  the  beauty  of  duty  and 
peace  at  the  last.  If  somebody  left  you  a  for- 
tune you'd  never  mention  either  of  them  again. 
Or  if  you  married  a  girl  with  money,  now.  I 
wish,  I  do  wish,  that  that  duty  would  strike  you 
as  the  one  thing  wholly  worth  doing." 

But  a  man  who  is  all  day  and  every  day  in  his 
fields,  who  farms  not  for  pleasure  but  for  his  bare 
existence,  has  no  time  to  set  out  in  search  of 
girls  with  money,  and  none  came  up  his  way. 
Besides,  he  had  been  engaged  a  few  years  before, 
and  the  girl  had  died,  and  he  had  not  since  had 
the  least  inclination  towards  matrimony.  After 
that  he  had  worked  harder  than  ever;  and  the 
years  flew  by,  filled  with  monotonous  labour. 
Sometimes  they  were  good  years,  and  the  ends 
not  only  met  but  lapped  over  a  little  ;  but  gen- 
erally the  bare  meeting  of  the  ends  was  all  that 
he  achieved.  His  wish  was  that  his  brother 
Gustav  who  came  after  him  should  find  the  place 
in  good  order;  if  possible  in  better  order  than 
before.     But  the  working  up  of  an  estate  for  a 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  147 

brother  Gustav,  with  whatever  determination  it 
may  be  carried  on,  is  not  a  labour  that  evokes  an 
unflagging  enthusiasm  in  the  labourer;  and  Axel, 
however  beautiful  a  life  of  duty  might  be  to  him 
in  theory,  found  it,  in  practice,  of  an  altogether 
remarkable  greyness.  Two-thirds  of  his  house 
were  shut  up.  In  the  evenings  his  servants  stole 
out  to  court  and  be  courted,  and  left  the  place  to 
himself  and  echoes  and  memories.  It  was  a 
house  built  for  a  large  family,  for  troops  of  chil- 
dren, and  frequent  friends.  Axel  sat  in  it  alone 
when  the  dusk  drove  him  indoors,  defending  him- 
self against  his  remembrances  by  prolonged  inter- 
views with  his  head  inspector,  or  a  zealous  study 
of  the  latest  work  on  potato  diseases. 

"  I  see  that  Bibi  Bornstedt  is  staying  with  your 
Regierungsprasident,"  Trudi  had  written  a  little 
while  before.  "  Now,  then,  is  your  chance.  She 
is  a  true  gold-fish.  You  cannot  continue  to  howl 
over  Hildegard's  memory  for  ever.  Bibi  will 
have  two  hundred  thousand  marks  a  year  when 
the  old  ones  die,  and  is  quite  a  decent  girl.  Her 
nose  is  a  fiasco,  but  when  you  have  been  married 
a  week  you  will  not  so  much  as  see  that  she  has 
a  nose.  And  the  two  hundred  thousand  marks 
will  still  be  there.  Ach,  Axel,  what  comfort,  what 
consolation,  in  two  hundred  thousand  marks ! 
You  could  put  the  most  glorious  wreaths  on  Hil- 
degard's tomb,  besides  keeping  racehorses." 

Lohm  suddenly  remembered  this  letter  as  he 
sat,  having  finished  his  own,  looking  out  of  the 
window  at  two  girls  in  Sunday  splendour  kissing 
one  of  the  stable  boys  behind  a  farm  cart.  They 
were   all   three   apparently   enjoying   themselves 


148  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

very  much,  the  girls  laughing,  the  boy  with  an 
expression  at  once  imbecile  and  beatific.  They 
thought  the  master's  eye  could  not  see  them 
there,  but  the  master's  eye  saw  most  things.  He 
took  up  his  pen  again  and  added  a  postscript. 
"  If  you  come  soon  you  will  be  able  to  enjoy  the 
society  of  your  friend  Bibi.  She  came  on  Wednes- 
day, I  believe."  Then,  feeling  slightly  ashamed 
of  using  the  innocent  Miss  Bibi  as  a  bait  to  catch 
his  sister,  he  wrote  the  advertisement  for  Anna, 
and  put  both  letters  in  the  post-bag. 

The  effect  of  his  postscript  was  precisely  the 
one  he  had  expected.  Trudi  was  drinking  her 
morning  coffee  in  her  bedroom  at  twelve  o'clock, 
when  the  letter  came.  Her  hair  was  being  done 
by  a  Friseur,  an  artist  in  hairdressing,  who  rode 
about  Hanover  every  day  on  a  bicycle,  his  pock- 
ets bulging  out  with  curling-tongs,  and  for  three 
marks  decorated  the  heads  of  Trudi  and  her 
friends  with  innumerable  waves.  Trudi  was  de- 
voted to  him,  with  the  devotion  naturally  felt  for 
the  person  on  whom  one's  beauty  depends,  for  he 
was  a  true  artist,  and  really  did  work  amazing 
transformations.  "  What !  You  have  never  had 
Herr  Jungbluth?"  Trudi  cried,  on  the  last  occa- 
sion on  which  she  met  Bibi,  the  daughter  of  a 
Hanover  banker,  and  quite  outside  her  set  but 
for  the  riches  that  ensured  her  an  enthusiastic 
welcome  wherever  she  went,  "  aber  Bibi !  "  There 
was  so  much  genuine  surprise  and  compassion  in 
this  "  aber  Bibi  "  that  the  young  person  addressed 
felt  as  though  she  had  been  for  years  missing  a 
possibility  of  happiness.  Trudi  added,  as  a  special 
recommendation,   that   Jungbluth  smelt  of  soap. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  149 

He  had  carefully  studied  the  nature  of  women, 
and  if  he  had  to  do  with  a  pretty  one  would  find 
an  early  opportunity  of  going  into  respectful  rap- 
tures over  what  he  described  as  her  klassisches 
Profil;  and  if  it  was  a  woman  whose  face  was 
not  all  she  could  have  wished,  he  would  tell  hen 
in  a  tone  of  subdued  enthusiasm,  that  her  profile, 
as  to  which  she  had  long  been  in  doubt,  was 
h'dchst  interessant.  The  popularity  of  this  young 
man  in  Trudi's  set  was  enormous ;  and  as  all  the 
less  aristocratic  Hanoverian  ladies  hastened  to 
imitate,  Jungbluth  lived  in  great  contentment 
and  prosperity  with  a  young  wife  whose  hair  was 
reposefully  straight,  and  a  baby  whose  godmother 
was  Trudi. 

"  Blue  woods  !  Anemones  !  "  read  Trudi  with 
immense  contempt.  "  Is  the  boy  in  his  senses  ? 
The  idea  of  expecting  me  to  go  to  that  dreary 
place  now.  Ah,  now  I  understand,"  she  added, 
turning  the  page,  "  it  is  Bibi  —  he  is  really  after 
her,  and  of  course  can  get  along  quicker  if  I  am 
there  to  help.  Excellent  Axel !  And  why  did  he 
go  to  the  pains  of  trotting  out  the  anemones } 
What  is  the  use  of  not  being  frank  with  me  ?  I 
can  see  through  him,  whatever  he  does.  He  is 
so  good-natured  that  I  am  sure  he  will  lend  us 
heaps  of  Bibi's  money  once  he  has  got  it.  So, 
lieber  Jtingbhith','  she  said  aloud,  "  that  will  do 
to-day.  Beautiful  —  beautiful  —  better  than  ever. 
I  am  in  a  hurry.  I  travel  to  Berlin  this  very 
afternoon." 

And  the  next  day  she  arrived  at  Stralsund,  and 
was  met  by  her  brother  at  the  station. 

She  greeted  him  with  enthusiasm.   "  As  we  are 


I50  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

here,"  she  said,  when  they  were  driving  through 
the  town,  "let  us  pay  our  respects  to  the  Regi- 
erungsprasidentin.  It  will  save  our  coming  in 
again  to-morrow." 

"  No,  I  cannot  to-day.  I  must  get  back  as 
quickly  as  possible.  The  hands  had  their  Easter 
ball  yesterday,  and  when  I  left  Lohm  this  morning 
half  of  them  were  still  in  bed." 

"  Well,  then,  the  horses  will  have  to  do  the  jour- 
ney again  to-morrow,  for  no  time  should  be 
lost." 

"  Yes,  you  can  come  in  to-morrow,  if  you  long 
so  much  to  see  your  friend." 

"  And  you  ?  "  asked  Trudi,  in  a  tone  of  astonish- 
ment. 

"  And  I  .^^  I  am  up  to  my  ears  now  in  work. 
Last  week  was  the  first  week  for  four  months  that 
we  could  plough.  Now  we  have  lost  these  three 
days  at  Easter.     I  cannot  spare  a  single  hour." 

"  But,  my  dear  Axel,  Bibi  is  of  far  greater  im- 
portance for  the  future  of  Lohm  than  any  amount 
of  ploughing." 

"  I  confess  I  do  not  see  how." 

"  I  don't  understand  you." 

"  Why  didn't  you  bring  the  little  boys  ?  " 

"  What  have  you  asked  me  to  come  here  for  ? " 

"  Come,  Trudi,  you've  not  been  near  me  for 
eight  months.  Isn't  it  natural  that  you  should 
pay  me  a  little  visit  ?  " 

"  No,  it  isn't  natural  at  all  to  come  to  such  a 
place  in  winter,  and  leave  all  the  fun  at  home.  I 
came  because  of  Bibi." 

"  What !  You'll  come  for  Bibi,  but  not  for  your 
own  brother  ? " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS 


151 


"  Now,  Axel,  you  know  very  well  that  I  have 
come  for  you  both." 

"  For  us  both  ?  What  would  Miss  Bibi  say  if 
she  heard  you  talking  of  herself  and  of  me  as  '  you 
both '  ? '' 

*'  I  wish  you  w^ould  not  bother  to  go  on  like  this. 
It's  a  great  waste  of  time." 

"  So  it  is,  my  dear.  Any  talk  about  Bibi  Born- 
stedt,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  is  a  hopless  waste 
of  time." 

"  Axel ! " 

"  Trudi  ? " 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  you  are  not  think- 
ing of  her  ?  " 

"  Thinking  of  her  ?  I  never  let  my  thoughts 
linger  round  strange  young  ladies." 

"  Then  what  in  heaven's  name  have  you  got  me 
here  for  ? " 

"  The  anemones  are  coming  out " 

"  Ac/i " 

"  They  really  are." 

"Suppose  instead  of  teasing  me  as  though  I 
were  still  ten  and  you  a  great  bully,  you  talked 
sensibly.  The  Hohensteins  give  a  3a/  masque  to- 
night, and  I  gave  it  up  to  come  to  you." 

"Oh,  my  dear,  that  was  really  kind,"  said  Lohm, 
touched  by  the  tremendousness  of  this  sacrifice. 

"  Then  be  a  good  boy,"  said  Trudi  caressingly, 
edging  herself  closer  to  him,  "  and  tell  me  you  are 
going  to  be  wise  about  Bibi.  Don't  throw  such  a 
chance  away  —  it's  positively  wicked." 

"  My  dear  Trudi,  you'll  have  us  in  the  ditch.  It 
is  very  nice  when  you  lean  against  me,  but  I  can't 
drive.     By  the  way,  you  remember  my  old  Klein- 


152 


THE   BENEFACTRESS 


walde  neighbour  ?     The  old  man  who  spoilt  you 
so  atrociously  ?  " 

"  Bibi  will  make  a  most  excellent  wife,"  said 
Trudi,  ungratefully  indifferent  to  the  memory  of 
old  Joachim.  "  Oh,  what  a  cold  wind  there  is 
to-day.  Do  drive  faster,  Axel.  What  a  taste,  to 
live  here  and  to  like  it  into  the  bargain  ! " 

"  You  know  that  I  must  live  here." 

"  But  you  needn't  like  it." 

"  You've  heard  that  old  Joachim  left  Klein  walde 
to  his  English  niece?" 

"  You  have  only  seen  Bibi  once,  and  she  grows 
on  one  tremendously." 

"  I  want  to  talk  about  old  Joachim." 

"  And  I  want  to  talk  about  Bibi." 

"  Well,  Bibi  can  wait.  She  is  the  younger. 
You  know  about  the  old  man's  will  ?  " 

"  I  should  think  I  did.  One  of  his  unfortunate 
sons  has  just  joined  our  regiment.  You  should 
hear  him  on  the  subject." 

"  A  most  disagreeable,  grasping  lot,"  said  Lohm 
decidedly.  "  They  received  every  bit  of  their  dues, 
and  are  all  well  off.  Surely  the  old  man  could  do 
as  he  liked  with  the  one  place  that  was  not 
entailed  ? " 

"  It  isn't  the  usual  thing  to  leave  one's  land  to  a 
foreigner.     Is  she  coming  to  live  in  it  ?  " 

"  She  came  last  week." 

"  Oh  ?  "     This  in  a  tone  of  sudden  interest. 

There  was  a  pause.  Then  Trudi  said,  "  Is  she 
young  ?  " 

"  Quite  young." 

"  Pretty  ?  " 

"  Exceedingly  pretty." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  153 

Trudi  looked  up  at  him  and  smiled. 

"  Well  ?  "  said  Axel,  smiling  back  at  her. 

"  Well  ?  "  said  Trudi,  continuing  to  smile. 

Axel  laughed  outright.  "  My  dear  Trudi,  your 
astuteness  terrifies  me.  You  not  only  know 
already  why  I  wrote  to  you,  but  you  know  more 
reasons  for  the  letter  than  I  myself  dream  of.  I 
want  to  be  able  to  help  this  extremely  helpless 
young  lady,  and  I  can  hardly  be  of  any  use  to  her 
because  I  have  no  woman  in  the  house.  If  I  had 
a  wife  I  could  be  of  the  greatest  assistance." 

"  Only  then  you  wouldn't  want  to  be." 

"  Certainly  I  should." 

"Pray,  why.?" 

"  Because  I  have  a  greater  debt  of  obligations 
to  her  uncle  than  I  can  ever  repay  to  his 
niece." 

"  Oh,  nonsense  —  nobody  pays  their  debts  of 
obligations.  The  natural  thing  to  do  is  to  hate 
the  person  who  has  forced  you  to  be  grateful,  and 
to  get  out  of  his  way." 

"  My  dear  Trudi,  this  shrewdness "  mur- 
mured her  brother.  Then  he  added,  "  I  know 
perfectly  well  that  your  thoughts  have  already 
flown  to  a  wedding.  Mine  don't  reach  farther 
than  an  elderly  companion." 

"  Who  for  ?     For  you  ?  " 

"  Miss  Estcourt  is  looking  for  an  elderly  com- 
panion, and  I  would  be  grateful  to  you  if  you 
would  help  her." 

"  But  the  elderly  companion  does  not  exclude 
the  w^edding." 

"  When  you  see  Miss  Estcourt  you  will  under- 
stand how  completely  such  a  possibility  is  outside 


154  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

her  calculations.  You  won't  of  course  believe  that 
it  is  outside  mine.  Why  should  you  want  to 
marry  me  to  every  girl  within  reach?  Five 
minutes  ago  it  was  Bibi,  and  now  it  is  Miss  Est- 
court.  You  do  not  in  the  least  consider  what 
views  the  girls  themselves  might  have.  Miss 
Estcourt  is  absorbed  at  this  moment  in  a  search 
for  twelve  old  ladies." 

"Twelve ?" 

"  Her  ambition  is  to  spend  herself  and  her 
money  on  twelve  old  ladies.  She  thinks  happiness 
and  money  are  as  good  for  them  as  for  herself, 
and  wants  to  share  her  own  with  persons  who 
have  neither." 

"  My  dear  Axel  —  is  she  mad  ?  " 

"  She  did  not  give  me  that  impression." 

"  And  you  say  she  is  young  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  And  really  pretty  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  And  could  be  so  well  off  in  that  flourishing 
place ! " 

"  Of  course  she  could." 

"  I'll  go  and  call  on  her  to-morrow,"  said  Trudi 
decidedly. 

"  It  will  be  kind  of  you,"  said  Lohm. 

"  Kind !  It  isn't  kindness,  it's  curiosity,"  said 
Trudi  with  a  laugh.  "  Let  us  be  frank,  and  call 
things  by  their  right  names." 

Anna  was  in  the  garden,  admiring  the  first 
crocus,  when  Trudi  appeared.  She  drove  Axel's 
cobs  up  to  the  door  in  what  she  felt  was  excellent 
style,  and  hoped  Miss  Estcourt  was  watching  her 
from  a  window  and  would  see  that  Englishwomen 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  155 

were  not  the  only  sportswomen  in  the  world. 
But  Anna  saw  nothing  but  the  crocus. 

The  wilderness  down  to  the  marsh  that  did 
duty  as  a  garden  was  so  sheltered  and  sunny  that 
spring  stopped  there  first  each  year  before  going 
on  into  the  forest ;  and  Anna  loved  to  walk 
straight  out  of  the  drawing-room  window  into  it, 
bareheaded  and  coatless,  whenever  she  had  time. 
Trudi  saw  her  coming  towards  the  house  upon 
the  servant's  telling  her  that  a  lady  had  called. 
"  Nothing  on,  on  a  cold  day  like  this! "  she  thought. 
She  herself  wore  a  particularly  sporting  driving- 
coat,  with  an  immense  collar  turned  up  over  her 
ears.  "  I  wonder,"  mused  Trudi,  watching  the 
approaching  figure,  "  how  it  is  that  English  girls, 
so  tidy  in  the  clothes,  so  trim  in  the  shoes,  so  neat 
in  the  tie  and  collar,  never  apparently  brush  their 
hair.  A  German  Miss  Estcourt  vegetating  in  this 
quiet  place  would  probably  wear  grotesque  and 
disconnected  garments,  doubtful  boots  and  strik- 
ing stockings,  her  figure  would  rapidly  give  way 
before  the  insidiousness  of  Schweinebraten,  but 
her  hair  would  always  be  beautifully  done,  each 
plait  smooth  and  in  its  proper  place,  each  little 
curl  exactly  where  it  ought  to  be,  the  parting  a 
model  of  straightness,  and  the  whole  well  deserv- 
ing to  be  dignified  by  the  name  Frisur.  English 
girls  have  hair,  but  they  do  not  have  FrisursT 

Anna  came  in  through  the  open  window,  and 
Trudi's  face  expanded  into  the  most  genial  smiles. 
"  How  glad  I  am  to  make  your  acquaintance ! " 
she  cried  enthusiastically.  She  spoke  English 
quite  as  correctly  as  her  brother,  and  much  more 
glibly.     "  I  hope  you  will  let  me  help  you  if  I  can 


156  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

be  of  any  use.  My  brother  says  your  uncle  was 
so  good  to  him.  When  I  lived  here  he  was  very 
kind  to  me  too.  How  brave  of  you  to  stay  here  ! 
And  what  wonderful  plans  you  have  made  !  My 
brother  has  told  me  about  your  twelve  ladies. 
What  courage  to  undertake  to  make  twelve  women 
happy.  I  find  it  hard  enough  work  making  one 
person  happy." 

"  One  person  ?     Oh,  Graf  Hasdorf." 

"  Oh  no,  myself.  You  see,  if  each  person  de- 
voted his  energies  to  making  himself  happy,  every- 
body would  be  happy." 

"  No,  they  wouldn't,"  said  Anna,  "  because  they 
do,  but  they're  not." 

They  looked  at  each  other  and  laughed.  "She 
only  needs  Jungbluth  to  be  perfect,"  thought 
Trudi ;  and  with  her  usual  impulsiveness  began 
immediately  to  love  her. 

Anna  was  delighted  to  meet  someone  of  her 
own  class  and  age  after  the  severe  though  short 
course  she  had  had  of  Dellwigs  and  Manskes  ; 
and  Trudi  was  so  much  interested  in  her  plans, 
and  so  pressing  in  her  offers  of  help,  that  she  very 
soon  found  herself  telling  her  all  her  difficulties 
about  servants,  sheets,  wall-papers,  and  whitewash. 
"  Look  at  this  paper,"  she  said,  "  could  you  live  in 
the  same  room  with  it  ?  No  one  will  ever  be  able 
to  feel  cheerful  as  long  as  it  is  here.  And  the  one 
in  the  dining-room  is  worse." 

"  It  isn't  beautiful,"  said  Trudi,  examining  it, 
*'  but  it  is  what  we  call  praktischr 

"  Then  I  don't  like  what  you  call  praktischr 

"  Neither  do  I.  All  the  hideous  things  are 
praktisch  —  oil-cloth,  black  wall-papers,  handker- 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  157 

chiefs  a  yard  square,  thick  boots,  ugly  women  — 
if  ever  you  hear  a  woman  praised  as  a  praktische 
Frau,  be  sure  she's  frightful  in  every  way — ugly 
and  dull.  The  uglier  she  is  the  praktischer  she  is. 
Oh,"  said  Trudi,  casting  up  her  eyes,  "  how  terrible, 
how  tragic,  to  be  an  ugly  woman  !  "  Then,  bring- 
ing her  gaze  down  again  to  Anna's  face,  she  added, 
"  My  flat  in  Hanover  is  all  pinks  and  blues  —  the 
most  becoming  rooms  you  can  imagine.  I  look 
so  nice  in  them." 

"  Pinks  and  blues  ?  That  is  just  what  I  want 
here.     Can't  I  get  any  in  Stralsund  ?  " 

Trudi  was  doubtful.  She  could  not  think  it 
possible  that  anybody  should  ever  get  anything  in 
Stralsund. 

"  But  I  must  do  my  shopping  there.  I  am  in 
such  a  hurry.  It  would  be  dreadful  to  have  to  keep 
anyone  waiting  only  because  my  house  isn't 
ready." 

"  Well,  we  can  tr^^"  said  Trudi.  "  You  will  let 
me  go  with  you,  won't  you  ?  " 

"  I  shall  be  more  than  grateful  if  you  will  come." 

"  What  do  you  think  if  we  went  now  ?  "  sug- 
gested Trudi,  always  for  prompt  action,  and  quickly 
tired  of  sitting  still.  "  My  brother  said  I  might 
drive  into  Stralsund  to-day  if  I  liked,  and  I  have 
the  cobs  here  now.  Don't  you  think  it  would  be 
a  good  thing,  as  you  are  in  such  a  hurry } " 

"  Oh,  a  very  good  thing,"  exclaimed  Anna. 
"  How^  kind  you  are !  You  are  sure  it  won't  bore 
you  frightfully  ?  " 

"  Oh,  not  a  bit.  It  will  be  rather  amusing  to  go 
into  those  shops  for  once,  and  I  shall  like  to  feel 
that  I  have  helped  the  good  work  on  a  little." 


158  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna  thought  Trudi  deHghtful.  Trudi's  new 
friends  always  did  think  her  delightful ;  and  she 
never  had  any  old  ones. 

She  drove  recklessly,  and  they  lurched  and 
heaved  through  the  sand  between  Kleinwalde  and 
Lohm  at  an  alarming  rate.  They  passed  Letty 
and  Miss  Leech,  going  for  their  afternoon  walk, 
who  stood  on  one  side  and  stared. 

"Who's  that?"  asked  Trudi. 

"  My  brother's  little  girl  and  her  governess." 

"  Oh  yes,  I  heard  about  them.  They  are  to  stay 
and  take  care  of  you  till  you  have  a  companion. 
Your  sister-in-law  didn't  like  Kleinwalde  ?  " 

"  No." 

Trudi  laughed. 

They  passed  Dellwig,  riding,  who  swept  off  his 
hat  with  his  customary  deference,  and  stared. 

"  Do  you  like  him  ?  "  asked  Trudi. 

"  Who  ? " 

"  Dellwig.  I  know  him  from  the  days  before  I 
married." 

"  I  don't  know  him  very  well  yet,"  said  Anna, 
"but  he  seems  to  be  very  —  very  polite." 

Trudi  laughed  again,  and  cracked  her  whip. 

"  My  uncle  had  great  faith  in  him,"  said  Anna, 
slightly  aggrieved  by  the  laugh. 

"  Your  uncle  was  one  of  the  best  farmers  in 
Germany,  I  have  always  heard.  He  was  so  ex- 
perienced, and  so  clever,  that  he  could  have  led  a 
hundred  Dellwigs  round  by  the  nose.  Dellwig 
was  naturally  quite  small,  as  we  say,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  your  uncle.  He  knew  very  well  it  would 
be  useless  to  be  anything  but  immaculate  under 
such  a  master.     Perhaps  your  uncle  thought  he 


THE   BExNEFACTRESS  159 

would  go  on  being  immaculate  from  sheer  habit, 
with  nobody  to  look  after  him." 

"  I  suppose  he  did,"  said  Anna  doubtfully.  "  He 
told  me  to  keep  him.  It's  quite  certain  that  /can't 
look  after  him." 

They  passed  Axel  Lohm,  also  riding.  He  was 
on  Trudi's  side  of  the  road.  He  looked  pleased 
when  he  saw  Anna  with  his  sister.  Trudi  whipped 
up  the  cobs,  regardless  of  his  feelings,  and  tore 
past  him,  scattering  the  sand  right  and  left. 
When  she  was  abreast  of  him,  she  winked  her  eye 
at  him  with  perfect  solemnity. 

Axel  looked  stony. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Neither  Trudi  nor  Anna  had  ever  worked  so 
hard  as  they  did  during  the  few  days  that  ended 
March  and  began  April.  Everything  seemed  to 
happen  at  once.  The  house  was  in  a  sudden  up- 
roar. There  were  people  whitewashing,  people 
painting,  people  putting  up  papers,  people  bring- 
ing things  in  carts  from  Stralsund,  people  trim- 
ming up  the  garden,  people  coming  out  to  offer 
themselves  as  servants,  Dellwig  coming  in  and 
shouting,  Manske  coming  round  and  glorifying— - 
Anna  would  have  been  completely  bewildered  if 
it  had  not  been  for  Trudi,  who  was  with  her  all 
day  long,  going  about  with  a  square  of  lace  and 
muslin  tucked  under  her  waist-ribbon  which  she 
felt  was  becoming  and  said  was  an  apron. 

Trudi  was  enjoying  herself  hugely.  She  saw 
Jungbluth's  waves  slowly  straightening  ^  them- 
selves out  of  her  hair,  and  for  the  first  time  in 
her  life  remained  calm  as  she  watched  them  go. 
She  even  began  to  have  aspirations  towards  Uncle 
Joachim's  better  life  herself,  and  more  than  once 
entered  into  a  serious  consideration  of  the  advan- 
tages that  might  result  from  getting  rid  at  one 
stroke  of  Bill  her  husband,  and  Billy  and  Tommy 
her  two  sons,  and  from  making  a  fresh  start  as  one 
of  Anna's  twelve. 

Frau  Manske  and  Frau  Dellwig  could  not  face 
her  infinite  superciliousness  more  than  once,  and 
kept  out  of  the  way  in  spite  of  their  burning  curi- 

i6o 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  i6i 

osity.  When  Dellwig's  shouts  became  intolerable, 
she  did  not  hesitate  to  wince  conspicuously  and 
to  put  up  her  hand  to  her  head.  When  Manske 
forgot  that  it  was  not  Sunday,  and  began  to  preach, 
she  would  interrupt  him  with  a  brisk  ''  Ja.ja,  sehr 
schon,  sehr  sch'dn,  aber  lieber  Herr  Pastor,  you 
must  tell  us  all  this  next  Sunday  in  church  when 
we  have  time  to  listen  —  my  friend  has  not  a 
minute  now  in  w^hich  to  appreciate  the  opinions 
of  the  Apostel  PaulusT 

"  I  believe  you  are  being  unkind  to  my  par- 
son," said  Anna,  who  could  not  always  understand 
Trudi's  rapid  German,  but  saw  that  Manske  went 
away  dejected. 

"  My  dear,  he  must  be  kept  in  his  place  if  he 
tries  to  come  out  of  it.  You  don't  know  what  a 
set  these  pastors  are.  They  are  not  like  your 
clergymen.  If  you  are  too  kind  to  that  man  you'll 
have  no  peace.  I  remember  in  my  father's  time 
he  came  to  dinner  every  Sunday,  sat  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  table,  and  when  the  pudding  appeared 
made  a  bow  and  went  away." 

"  He  didn't  like  pudding  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know^  if  he  liked  it  or  not,  but  he  never 
got  any.  It  was  a  good  old  custom  that  the  pas- 
tor should  withdraw  before  the  pudding,  and  Axel 
has  not  kept  it  up.  My  father  never  had  any 
bother  with  him." 

"  But  what  has  the  pudding  that  he  didn't  get 
ten  years  ago  to  do  with  your  being  unkind  to 
him  now  ?  " 

"  I  wanted  to  explain  the  proper  footing  for  him 
to  be  on." 

"  And  the  proper  footing  is  a  puddingless  one } 

M 


1 62  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Well,  in  my  house  neither  pudding  nor  kindness 
in  suitable  quantities  shall  be  withheld  from  him, 
so  don't  ill-use  him  more  than  you  feel  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  his  good." 

"  Oh,  you  are  a  dear  little  thing ! "  said  Trudi, 
putting  her  hands  on  Anna's  shoulders  and  look- 
ing into  her  eyes  —  they  were  both  tall  young 
women,  and  their  eyes  were  on  a  level  —  "I  won- 
der what  the  end  of  you  will  be.  When  you 
know  all  these  people  better  you'll  see  that  my 
way  of  treating  them,  which  you  think  unkind,  is 
the  only  way.  You  must  turn  up  your  nose  as 
high  as  it  will  go  at  them,  and  they  will  burst 
with  respect.  Don't  be  too  friendly  and  confid- 
ing—  they  won't  understand  it,  and  will  be  sure 
to  think  that  something  must  be  wrong  about 
you,  and  will  begin  to  backbite  you,  and  invent 
all  sorts  of  horrid  stories  about  you.  And  as  for 
the  pastor,  why  should  he  be  allowed  to  treat 
your  rooms  as  though  they  were  so  many  pul- 
pits, and  you  as  though  you  had  never  heard  of 
the  Apostel  Paulus  ?  " 

Anna  admitted  that  she  was  not  always  in  the 
proper  frame  of  mind  for  these  unprovoked  ser- 
mons, but  refused  to  believe  in  the  necessity  for 
turning  up  her  nose.  She  ostentatiously  pressed 
Manske,  the  very  next  time  he  came,  to  stay  to  the 
evening  meal,  which  was  rather  of  the  nature  of 
a  picnic  in  those  unsettled  days,  but  at  which,  for 
Letty's  sake,  there  was  always  a  pudding;  and 
she  invited  him  to  eat  pudding  three  times  run- 
ning, and  each  time  he  accepted  the  offer;  and 
each  time,  when  she  had  helped  him,  she  fixed 
her  eyes  with  a  defiant  gravity  on  Trudi's  face. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  163 

Axel  came  in  sometimes  when  he  had  business 
at  the  farm,  and  was  shown  what  progress  had 
been  made.  Trudi  was  as  interested  as  though 
it  had  been  her  own  house,  and  took  him  about, 
demanding  his  approval  and  admiration  with  an 
enthusiasm  that  spread  to  Anna,  and  she  and 
Axel  soon  became  good  friends.  The  Stral- 
sund  wall-papers  were  so  dreadful  that  Anna  had 
declared  she  would  have  most  of  the  rooms 
whitewashed ;  the  hall  had  been  done,  exchang- 
ing its  pea-green  coat  for  one  of  virgin  purity, 
and  she  had  thought  it  so  fresh  and  clean,  and 
so  appropriate  to  the  simplicity  of  the  better  life, 
that  to  the  amazement  of  the  workmen  she  in- 
sisted on  the  substitution  of  whitewash  in  both 
dining  and  drawing-room  for  the  handsome  choco- 
late-coloured papers  already  in  those  rooms. 

"  The  twelve  will  think  it  frightful,"  said  Trudi. 

"  But  why  ?  "  asked  Anna,  who  had  fallen  in 
love  with  whitewash.  "  It  is  purity  itself.  It  will 
be  symbolical  of  the  innocence  and  cleanliness 
that  will  be  in  our  hearts  when  we  have  got  used 
to  each  other,  and  are  happy." 

Trudi  looked  again  at  the  hall,  into  which  the 
afternoon  sun  was  streaming.  It  did  look  very 
clean,  certainly,  and  exceedingly  cheerful ;  she 
was  sure,  however,  that  it  would  never  be  sym- 
bolical of  any  heart  that  came  into  it.  But  then 
Trudi  was  sceptical  about  hearts. 

At  the  end  of  Easter  week,  when  Trudi  was  be- 
ginning to  feel  slightly  tired  of  whitewash  and 
scrambled  meals,  and  to  have  doubts  as  to  the 
permanent  becomingness  of  aprons,  and  misgiv- 
ings as  to  the  effect  on  her  complexion  of  run- 


1 64  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ning  about  a  cold  house  all  day  long,  answers 
to  the  advertisements  began  to  arrive,  and  soon 
arrived  in  shoals.     These  letters  acted  as  bellows 
on  the  flickering  flame  of  her  zeal.     She  found 
them  extraordinarily  entertaining,  and  would  meet 
Manske  in  the  hall  when  he  brought  them  round, 
and  take  them  out  of  his  hands,  and  run  with 
them  to   Anna,  leaving  him  standing  there  un- 
certain  whether   he  ought   to  stay  and   be  con- 
sulted, or  whether  it  was  expected  of  him  that  he 
should    go    home   again   without    having    unbur- 
dened himself  of  all  the   advice  he  felt  that  he 
contained.     He  deplored  what  he  called  das  im- 
pulsive Temperament  of  the  Grafin.     Always  had 
she   been    so,    since    the   days    she    climbed   his 
cherry-trees  and  helped  the  birds  to  strip  them; 
and  when,  with  every  imaginable  precaution,  he 
had  approached   her  father  on  the  subject,   and 
carefully  excluding  the  word  cherry  hinted  that 
the  climbing  of  trees  was  a  perilous  pastime  for 
young   ladies,  old   Lohm  had   burst  into  a  loud 
laugh,  and  had  sworn  that  neither  he  nor  anyone 
else  could  do  anything  with  Trudi.     He  actually 
had  seemed  proud  that  she  should  steal  cherries, 
for  he  knew  very  well  why  she  climbed  the  trees, 
and    predicted    a   brilliant    future    for    his    only 
daughter ;  to  which  Manske  had  listened  respect- 
fully as  in  duty  bound,  and  had  gone  home  un- 
convinced. 

But  Anna  did  not  let  him  stand  long  in  the  hall, 
and  came  to  fetch  him  and  beg  him  to  help  her 
read  the  letters  and  tell  her  what  he  thought  of 
them.  In  spite  of  Trudi's  advice  and  example 
she  continued  to  treat  the  pastor  with  the  defer- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  165 

ence  due  to  a  good  and  simple  man.  What  did  it 
matter  if  he  talked  twice  as  much  as  he  need  have 
done,  and  wearied  her  with  his  habit  of  puffing 
Christianity  as  though  it  were  a  quack  medicine 
of  which  he  was  the  special  patron  ?  He  was  sin- 
cere, he  really  believed  something,  and  really  felt 
something,  and  after  five  days  with  Trudi  Anna 
turned  to  Manske's  elementary  convictions  with 
relief.  In  five  days  she  had  come  to  be  very  glad 
that  Trudi  stood  in  no  need  of  a  place  among  the 
twelve. 

Most  of  the  women  who  wrote  in  answer  to  the 
advertisement  sent  photographs,  and  their  letters 
were  pitiful  enough,  either  because  of  what  they 
said  or  because  of  what  they  tried  to  hide ;  and 
Anna's  appreciation  of  Trudi  received  a  great 
shock  when  she  found  that  the  letters  amused 
her,  and  that  the  photographs,  especially  those  of 
the  old  ones  or  the  ugly  ones,  moved  her  to  a 
mirth  little  short  of  unseemly.  After  all,  Trudi 
was  taking  a  great  deal  upon  herself,  Anna 
thought,  reading  the  letters  unasked,  helping  her 
to  open  them  unasked,  hurrying  down  to  fetch 
them  unasked,  and  deluging  her  with  advice  about 
them  unasked.  She  saw  she  had  made  a  mistake 
in  allowing  her  to  see  them  at  all.  She  had  no 
right  to  expose  the  petitions  of  these  unhappy 
creatures  to  Trudi's  inquisitive  and  diverted  eyes. 
This  fact  was  made  very  patent  to  her  when  one 
of  the  letters  that  Trudi  opened  turned  out  to  be 
from  a  person  she  had  known.  "  Why,"  cried 
Trudi,  her  face  twinkling  with  excitement,  "  here's 
one  from  a  girl  who  was  at  school  with  me.  And 
her  photo,  too  —  what  a  shocking  scarecrow  she 


1 66  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

has  grown  into !  She  is  only  two  years  older  than 
I  am,  but  might  be  forty.  Just  look  at  her  —  and 
she  used  to  think  none  of  us  were  good  enough 
for  her.  Don't  have  her,  whatever  you  do  —  she 
married  one  of  the  officers  in  Bill's  first  regiment, 
and  treated  him  so  shamefully  that  he  shot  him- 
self. Imagine  her  boldness  in  writing  like  this ! " 
And  she  began  eagerly  to  read  the  letter. 

Anna  got  up  and  took  it  out  of  her  hands.  It 
was  an  unexpected  action,  or  Trudi  would  have 
held  on  tighter.  "  She  never  dreamed  you  would 
see  what  she  wrote,"  said  Anna,  "  and  it  would  be 
dishonourable  of  me  to  let  you.  And  the  other 
letters  too  —  I  have  been  thinking  it  over  —  they 
are  only  meant  for  me;  and  no  one  else,  except 
perhaps  the  parson,  ought  to  see  them." 

"  Except  perhaps  the  parson ! "  cried  Trudi, 
greatly  offended.  "  And  why  except  perhaps  the 
parson  ? " 

"  I  can't  always  read  the  German  writing,"  ex- 
plained Anna. 

"  But  surely  a  woman  of  your  own  age,  who  isn't 
such  a  simpleton  as  the  parson,  is  the  best  adviser 
you  can  have." 

"  But  you  laugh  at  the  letters,  and  they  are  all 
so  unhappy." 

Trudi  went  back  to  Lohm  early  that  day. 
"  She  has  taken  it  into  her  head  that  I  am  not  to 
read  the  letters,"  she  said  to  her  brother  with  no 
little  indignation. 

"  It  would  be  a  great  breach  of  confidence  if  she 
allowed  you  to,"  he  replied ;  which  was  so  unsatis- 
factory that  she  drove  into  Stralsund  that  very 
afternoon,  and  consoled  herself  with  the  pliable 
Bibi. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  167 

Bibi's  nose  seemed  more  unsuccessful  than  ever 
after  having  had  Anna's  before  her  for  nearly  a 
week ;    but  then  the  richness  of  the  girl !     And 
such  a  good-natured,  generous  girl,  who    would 
adore  her  sister-in-law  and   make   her   presents. 
Contemplating  the  good    Bibi   in   her  afternoon 
splendour  from  Paris,  Trudi's  heart  stirred  within 
her  at^  the  thought  of  all  that  was  within  Axel's 
reach  if  only  he  could  be  induced  to  put  out  his 
hand  and  take  it.     Anna  would  never  marry  him, 
Trudi  was  certain  —  would  never  marry  anyone, 
being  completely  engrossed  by  her  philanthropic 
follies ;  but  if  she  did,  what  was  her  probable  in- 
come compared  to  Bibi's  ?     And  Axel  would  never 
look  at  Bibi  so  long  as  that  other  girl  lived  next 
door  to  him ;  nobody  could  expect  him  to.     Anna 
was  too  pretty ;  it  was  not  fair.     And  Bibi  was  so 
very  plain  ;  which  was  not  fair  either. 
_  The  Regierungsprasidentin,  a  cousin  by  mar- 
riage of  Bibi's,  but  a  member  of  an  ancient  family 
of  the  Mark,  was  delighted  to  see  Trudi  and  to 
question  her  about  the  new  and  eccentric  arrival. 
Trudi  had  offered  to  take  Anna  to  call  on  this 
lady,  and  had  explained  that  it  was  her  duty  to 
call ;  but  Anna  had  said  there  was  no  hurry,  and 
had  talked  of  some  day,  and  had  been  manifestly 
bored  by  the  prospect  of  making  new  acquaint- 
ances. 

"  Is  she  quite  —  quite  in  her  right  senses?"  asked 
the  Regierungsprasidentin,  when  Trudi  had  de- 
scribed all  they  had  been  doing  in  Anna's  house, 
and  all  Anna  meant  to  do  with  her  money,  and 
had  made  her  description  so  smart  and  diverting 
that  the  Regierungsprasidentin,  an  alert  little  lady, 


1 68  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

with  ears  perpetually  pricked  up  in  the  hope  of 
catching  gossip,  felt  that  she  had  not  enjoyed  an 
afternoon  so  much  for  years. 

Bibi  sat  listening  with  her  mouth  wide  open. 
It  was  an  artless  way  of  hers  when  she  was  much 
interested  in  a  conversation,  and  was  deplored  by 
those  who  wished  her  well. 

"  Oh,  yes,  she  is  quite  in  her  senses.  Rather 
too  sure  she  knows  best,  always,  but  quite  in  her 
senses." 

"  Then  she  is  very  religious  ?  " 

"  Not  in  the  ordinary  way,  I  should  think.  She 
goes  in  for  nature.  Gott  in  der  Natur,  and  that 
sort  of  thing.  If  the  sun  shines  more  than  usual 
she  goes  and  stands  in  it,  and  turns  up  her  eyes 
and  gushes.  There's  a  crocus  in  the  garden,  and 
when  we  came  to  it  yesterday  she  stopped  in  front 
of  it  and  rhapsodised  for  ten  minutes  about  things 
that  have  nothing  to  do  with  crocuses  —  chiefly 
about  the  liebe^t  GotL  And  all  in  English,  of 
course,  and  it  sounds  worse  in  English." 

"  But  then,  my  dear,  she  is  religious  ?  " 

"  Oh,  well,  the  pastor  would  not  call  it  religion. 
It's  a  sort  of  huddle-muddle  pantheism  as  far  as  it 
is  anything  at  all."  From  which  it  will  be  seen 
that  Trudi  was  even  more  frank  about  her  friends 
behind  their  backs  than  she  was  to  their  faces. 

She  drove  back  to  Lohm  in  a  discontented  frame 
of  mind.  "  What's  the  good  of  anything  ?  "  was  the 
mood  she  was  in.  She  had  over-tired  herself  help- 
ing Anna,  and  she  was  afraid  that  being  so  much 
in  cold  rooms  and  passages,  and  washing  in  hard 
water,  had  made  her  skin  coarse.  She  had  caught 
sight  of  herself  in  a  glass  as  she  was  leaving  the 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  169 

Regierungsprasidentin,  and  had  been  disconcerted 
by  finding  that  she  did  not  look  as  pretty  as  she 
felt.  Nor  was  she  consoled  for  this  by  the  con- 
sciousness that  she  had  been  unusually  amusing 
at  Anna's  expense ;  for  she  was  only  too  certain 
that  the  Regierungsprasidentin,  when  repeating  all 
she  had  told  her  to  her  friends,  would  add  that 
Trudi  Hasdorf  had  terribly  eingepackt  —  dreadful 
word,  descriptive  of  the  faded  state  immediately 
preceding  wrinkles,  and  held  in  just  abhorrence  by 
every  self-respecting  woman.  Of  what  earthly  use 
was  it  to  be  cleverer  and  more  amusinor  than  other 
people  if  at  the  same  time  you  had  eingepackt  ? 

"  What  a  stupid  world  it  is,"  thought  Trudi,  driv- 
ing along  the  chaussee  in  the  early  April  twilight. 
A  mist  lay  over  the  sea,  and  the  pale  sickle  of  the 
young  moon  rose  ghost-like  above  the  white  shroud. 
Inland  the  stars  were  faintly  shining,  and  all  the 
earth  beneath  was  damp  and  fragrant.  It  was  Sat- 
urday evening,  and  the  two  bells  of  Lohm  church 
were  plaintively  ringing  their  reminder  to  the  coun- 
tryside that  the  week's  work  was  ended  and  God's 
day  came  next.  "  Oh,  the  stupid  world,"  thought 
Trudi.     "  If  I  stay  here  I  shall  be  bored  to  death 

—  that  Estcourt  child  and  her  governess  have  got 
on  to  my  nerves  —  horrid  fat  child  with  turned-in 
toes,  and  flabby,  boneless  woman,  only  held  to- 
gether by  her  hairpins.  I  am  sick  of  governesses 
and  children  —  wherever  one  goes,  there  they  are. 
If  I  go  home,  there  are  those  noisy  little  boys  and 
Fraulein  Schultz  worrying  all  day,  and  then  there's 
that  tiresome  Bill  coming  in  to  meals.  Anna  and 
Bibi  are  just  in  the  position  I  would  like  to  be  in 

—  no  husbands  and  children,  and  lots  of  money." 


lyo  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

And  staring  straight  before  her,  with  eyes  dark 
with  envy,  she  fell  into  gloomy  musings  on  the 
beauty  of  Bibl's  dress,  and  the  blindness  of  fate, 
throwing  away  a  dress  like  that  on  a  Bibi,  when 
it  was  so  eminently  suited  to  tall,  slim  women  like 
herself ;  and  It  was  fortunate  for  Axel's  peace  that 
when  she  reached  Lohm  the  first  thing  she  saw 
was  a  letter  from  the  objectionable  Bill  telling  her 
to  come  home,  because  the  foreign  prince  who  was 
honorary  colonel  of  the  regiment  was  expected  im- 
mediately In  Hanover,  and  there  were  to  be  great 
doings  In  his  honour. 

She  left,  all  smiles,  the  next  morning  by  the  first 
train. 

"  Miss  Estcourt  will  miss  you,"  said  Axel,  "  and 
will  wonder  why  you  did  not  say  good-bye.  I  am 
afraid  your  journey  will  be  unpleasant,  too,  to-day. 
I  wish  you  had  stayed  till  to-morrow." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  mind  the  Sunday  people  once  in  a 
way,"  said  TrudI  gaily.  "  And  please  tell  Anna 
how  it  was  I  had  to  go  so  suddenly.  I  have  started 
her,  at  least,  with  the  workmen  and  people  she 
wants.  I  shall  see  her  in  a  few  weeks  again,  you 
know,  when  Bill  is  at  the  manoeuvres." 

"  A  few  weeks  !     Six  months." 

"  Well,  six  months.  You  must  both  try  to 
exist  without  me  for  that  time." 

"  You  seem  very  pleased  to  be  off,"  he  said, 
smiling,  as  she  climbed  briskly  into  the  dog-cart 
and  took  the  reins,  while  her  maid,  with  her  arms 
full  of  bags,  was  hoisted  up  behind. 

"  Oh,  so  pleased  !  "  said  Trudi,  looking  down  at 
him  with  sparkling  eyes.  "  Princes  and  parties  are 
jollier  any  day  than  whitewash  and  the  better  life." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  171 

"  And  brothers." 

"  Oh  —  brothers.  By  the  way,  I  never  saw  Bibi 
look  better  than  she  did  yesterday.  She  has  im- 
proved so  much  nobody  would  know " 

"  You  will  miss  your  train,"  said  Axel,  pulling 
out  his  watch. 

"  Well,  good-bye  then,  alter  Ju^ige.  Work 
hard,  do  your  duty,  and  don't  let  your  thoughts 
linger  too  much  round  strange  young  ladies. 
They  never  do,  I  think  you  said  }  Well,  so  much 
the  better,  for  it's  no  good,  no  good,  no  good ! " 
And  Trudi,  who  was  in  tremendous  spirits,  put 
her  whip  to  the  brim  of  her  hat  by  way  of  a  part- 
ing salute,  touched  up  the  cobs,  and  rattled  off 
down  the  drive  on  the  road  to  Jungbluth  and 
glory.  She  turned  her  head  before  she  finally 
disappeared,  to  call  back  her  oracular  "  No  good  !  " 
once  again  to  Axel,  who  stood  watching  her  from 
the  steps  of  his  solitary  house. 


CHAPTER   XII 

So  Anna  was  left  to  herself  again.  She  was 
astonished  at  the  rapidity  of  Trudi's  movements. 
Within  one  week  she  had  heard  of  her,  met  her, 
liked  her,  begun  to  like  her  less,  and  lost  her. 
She  had  flashed  across  the  Kleinwalde  horizon, 
and  left  a  trail  of  workmen  and  new  servants  be- 
hind, with  whom  Anna  was  now  occupied,  unaided, 
from  morning  till  night.  Miss  Leech  and  Letty 
did  all  they  could,  but  their  German  being  re- 
stricted to  quotations  from  the  Erl-K'dnig  and  the 
Lied  von  der  Glocke,  it  could  not  be  brought  to 
bear  with  any  profitable  results  on  the  workmen. 
The  servants,  too,  were  a  perplexity  to  Anna. 
Their  cheapness  was  extraordinary,  but  their 
quality  curious.  Her  new  parlourmaid — for  she 
felt  unequal  to  coping  with  German  men-servants 

—  wore  her  arms  naked  all  day  long.  Anna 
thought  she  had  tucked  up  her  sleeves  in  her  zeal 
for  thoroughness,  but  when  she  appeared  with  the 
afternoon  coffee  —  the  local  tea  was  undrinkable 

—  she  still  had  bare  arms;  and,  examining  her 
more  closely,  Anna  saw  that  it  was  her  usual 
state,  for  her  dress  was  sleeveless.  Nor  was  her 
want  of  sleeves  her  only  peculiarity.  Anna  began 
to  wonder  whether  her  house  would  ever  be  ready 
for  the  twelve. 

The  answers  to  the  philanthropic  advertisement 
were  in  a  proportion  of  fifty  to  one  answer  to  the 

172 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  173 

advertisement  for  a  companion.  There  were  fifty 
ladies  without  means  wilHng  to  be  idle,  to  one  lady 
without  means  willing  to  work.  It  worried  Anna 
terribly,  being  obliged  by  want  of  room  and  money 
to  limit  the  number  to  twelve.  She  could  hardly 
bear  to  read  the  letters,  knowing  that  nearly  all 
had  to  be  rejected.  "  See  how  many  sad  lives  are 
being  dragged  through  while  we  are  so  comfort- 
able," she  said  to  Manske,  when  he  brought  round 
fresh  piles  of  letters  to  add  to  those  already  heaped 
on  her  table. 

He  shook  his  head  in  perplexity.  He  was  be- 
wildered by  the  masses  of  answers,  by  the  apparent 
universality  of  impoverishment  and  hopelessness 
among  Christian  ladies  of  good  family. 

He  could  not  come  himself  more  than  once  a 
day,  and  the  letters  arrived  by  every  post ;  so  in 
the  afternoon  he  sent  Herr  Klutz,  the  young  cleric 
of  poetic  promptings,  who  had  celebrated  Anna 
on  her  arrival  in  a  poem  which  for  freshness  and 
spontaneousness  equalled,  he  considered,  the  best 
sonnets  that  had  ever  been  written.  What  a  joy 
it  was  to  a  youth  of  imagination,  to  a  poet  who 
thought  his  features  not  unlike  Goethe  s,  and  who 
regarded  it  as  by  no  means  an  improbability  that 
his  brain  should  turn  out  to  be  stamped  with  the 
same  resemblance,  to  walk  daily  through  the 
gleaming,  whispering  forest,  swinging  his  stick 
and  composing  snatches  not  unworthy  of  her  of 
whom  they  treated,  his  face  towards  the  magic 
Schloss  and  its  enchanted  princess,  and  his  pock- 
ets full  of  her  letters !  Herr  Klutz's  coat  was 
clerical,  but  his  brown  felt  hat  and  the  flower  in 
his    buttonhole   were    typical  of   the  worldliness 


174  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

within.  "  A  poet,"  he  assured  himself  often,  "  is  a 
citizen  of  the  world,  and  is  not  to  be  narrowed 
down  to  any  one  circle  or  creed."  But  he  did  not 
expound  this  view  to  the  good  man  who  was  help- 
ing him  to  prepare  for  the  examination  that  would 
make  him  a  full-fledged  pastor,  and  received  his 
frequent  blessings,  and  assisted  at  prayers  and 
intercessions  of  which  he  was  the  subject,  with 
outward  decorum. 

The  first  time  he  brought  the  letters,  Anna 
received  him  with  her  usual  kindness ;  but  there 
was  something  in  his  manner  that  displeased  her, 
whether  it  was  self-assurance,  or  conceit,  or  a  way 
he  had  of  looking  at  her,  she  could  not  tell,  nor 
did  she  waste  many  seconds  trying  to  decide ;  but 
the  next  day  when  he  came  he  was  not  admitted 
to  her  presence,  nor  the  next  after  that,  nor  for 
some  time  to  come.  This  surprised  Herr  Klutz, 
who  was  of  Dellwig's  opinion  that  the  most  supe- 
rior woman  was  not  equal  to  the  average  man;  and 
take  away  any  advantage  of  birth  or  position  or 
wealth  that  she  might  possess,  why,  there  she  was, 
only  a  woman,  a  creature  made  to  be  conquered 
and  brought  into  obedience  to  man.  Being  young 
and  poetic  he  differed  from  Dell  wig  on  one  point : 
to  Dellwig,  woman  was  a  servant;  to  Klutz,  an 
admirable  toy.  Clearly  such  a  creature  could  only 
be  gratified  by  opportunities  of  seeing  and  con- 
versing with  members  of  the  opposite  sex.  The 
Miss's  conduct,  therefore,  in  allowing  her  servant 
to  take  the  letters  from  him  at  the  door,  puzzled 
him. 

He   often  met  Miss  Leech  and   Letty  on  his 
way  to  or  from  Kleinwalde,  and  always  stopped  to 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  175 

speak  to  them  and  to  teach  them  a  few  German 
sentences  and  practise  his  own  small  stock  of 
English ;  and  from  them  he  easily  discovered  all 
that  the  young  woman  he  favoured  with  his  admi- 
ration was  doing.  Lohm,  riding  over  to  Klein- 
walde  to  settle  differences  between  Dellwig  and 
the  labourers,  or  to  tr}^  offenders,  met  these  three 
several  times,  and  supposed  that  Klutz  must  be 
courting  the  governess. 

The  day  Trudi  left,  Lohm  had  gone  round  to 
Anna  and  delivered  his  sister's  message  in  a  slightly 
embellished  form.  "  You  will  have  everything  to 
do  now  unassisted,"  he  said.  "  I  do  trust  that  in 
any  difficulty  you  will  let  me  help  you.  If  the 
workmen  are  insolent,  for  instance,  or  if  your  new 
servants  are  dishonest  or  in  any  way  give  you 
trouble.  You  know  it  is  my  duty  as  Amtsvorste- 
her  to  interfere  when  such  things  happen." 

"You  are  very  kind,"  said  Anna  gratefully, 
looking  up  at  the  grave,  good  face,  "  but  no  one 
is  insolent.  And  look  —  here  is  some  one  who 
wants  to  come  as  companion.  It  is  the  first  of  the 
answers  to  that  advertisement  that  pleases  me." 

Lohm  took  the  letter  and  photograph  and  ex- 
amined them.  "  She  is  a  Penheim,  I  see,"  he  said. 
"  It  is  a  very  good  family,  but  some  of  its  branches 
have  been  reduced  to  poverty,  as  so  many  of  our 
old  families  have  been." 

"  Don't  you  think  she  would  do  very  well  ?  " 

"  Yes,  if  she  is  and  does  all  she  says  in  her  letter. 
You  might  propose  that  she  should  come  at  first 
for  a  few  weeks  on  trial.  You  may  not  like  her, 
and  she  may  not  appreciate  philanthropic  house- 
keeping." 


176  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna  laughed.  "  I  am  doubly  anxious  to  get 
someone  soon,"  she  said,  "because  my  sister-in- 
law  wants  Letty  and  Miss  Leech." 

Letty  and  Miss  Leech  heaved  tragic  sighs  at 
this ;  they  had  no  desire  whatever  to  go  home. 

"  Will  you  not  feel  rather  forlorn  when  they  are 
gone,  and  you  are  quite  alone  among  strangers  ? " 

"  I  shall  miss  them,  but  I  don't  mean  to  be  for- 
lorn," said  Anna,  smiling. 

"The  courage  of  the  little  thing!"  thought 
Lohm.  "  Ready  to  brave  anything  in  pursuit  of 
her  ideals.  It  makes  one  ashamed  of  one's  own 
grumblings  and  discouragements." 

Anna  arranged  with  Frau  von  Penheim  that  she 
should  come  at  once  on  a  three  months'  trial ;  ^  and 
immediately  this  was  settled  she  wrote  to  Susie  to 
ask  what  day  Letty  was  to  be  sent  home.  She 
had  had  no  communication  with  Susie  since  that 
angry  lady's  departure.  To  Peter  she  had  written, 
explaining  her  plans  and  her  reasons,  and  her 
hopes  and  yearnings,  and  had  received  a  hasty 
scrawl  in  reply  dated  from  Estcourt,  conveying 
his  blessing  on  herself  and  her  scheme.  "  Susie 
came  straight  down  here,"  he  wrote,  "  because  of 
the  Alderton  wedding  to  which  she  was  not  asked, 
and  went  to  bed.  You  know,  my  dear  little  sister, 
anything  that  makes  you  happy  contents  me.^  I 
wish  you  could  have  seen  your  way  to  benefiting 
reduced  English  ladies,  for  you  are  a  long  way  off ; 
but  of  course  you  have  the  house  free  over  there. 
Don't  let  Miss  Leech  leave  you  till  you  are  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  your  companion.     Yesterday 

I  landed  the  biggest "  etc.     In  a  word,  Peter, 

in  accordance  with  his  invariable  custom,  was  on 
her  side. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  177 

The  day  before  Frau  von  Penheim  was  to  ar- 
rive, Susie's  answer  to  Anna's  letter  came.  Here 
it  is :  — 

"Dear  Anna,  —  Your  letter  surprised  me, 
though  I  might  have  known  by  now  what  to 
expect  of  you.  —  Still,  I  w^as  surprised  that  you 
should  not  even  offer  to  make  the  one  return  in 
your  power  for  all  I  have  done  for  you.  As  I  feel 
I  have  a  right  to  some  return  I  don't  hesitate  to 
tell  you  that  I  think  you  ought  to  keep  Letty  for 
a  year  or  two,  or  even  longer.  Even  if  you  kept 
her  till  she  is  eighteen,  and  dressed  her  and  fed 
her  (don't  feed  her  too  much),  it  would  only  be 
four  years ;  and  what  are  four  years  I  should  like 
to  know,  compared  to  the  fifteen  I  had  you  on  my 
hands  ?  I  was  talking  to  Herr  Schumpf  about 
her  the  other  day  —  his  bills  were  so  absurd  that 
I  made  him  take  something  off  —  and  he  said  by 
all  means  let  her  stay  in  Germany.  Everybody 
speaks  German  nowadays,  and  Letty  will  pick  it 
up  at  once  in  that  awful  place  of  yours.  I  was  so 
ill  when  I  got  back  that  I  went  to  Estcourt,  and 
had  to  stay  in  bed  for  days,  the  doctor  coming 
every  day,  and  sometimes  twice.  He  said  he 
didn't  wonder,  when  I  told  him  all  I  had  gone 
through.  Peter  was  quite  sorry  for  me.  Send 
Miss  Leech  back.  Give  her  a  month's  notice  for 
me  the  day  you  get  this,  and  see  if  you  can't  find 
some  German  who  will  go  to  your  place  —  I  can't 
remember  its  wretched  name  without  looking  in 
my  address  book  —  and  give  Letty  lessons  every 
day.  The  rest  of  the  time  she  can  talk  German 
to  your  twelve  victims.     I  believe  masters  in  Ger- 


N 


1 78  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

many  only  charge  about  6d.  an  hour,  so  it  won't 
ruin  you.  Make  her  take  lots  of  exercise,  and  let 
her  ride.  She  has  outgrown  her  old  habit,  but 
German  tailors  are  so  cheap  that  a  new  one  will 
cost  next  to  nothing,  and  any  horse  that  shakes 
her  up  well  will  do.  I  shall  be  quite  happy  about 
her  diet,  because  I  know  you  don't  have  anything 
to  eat.  I  was  at  the  Ennistons'  last  night.  They 
seemed  very  sorry  for  me  being  so  nearly  related 
to  somebody  cracked ;  but  after  all,  as  I  tell  peo- 
ple, I'm  not  responsible  for  my  husband's  rela- 
tions.—  Your  affectionate       Susie  Estcourt." 

"  I  have  never  seen  Hilton  so  upset  as  she  was 
after  that  German  trip.  She  cried  if  anyone  looked 
at  her.  Poor  thing,  no  wonder.  The  doctor  says 
she  is  all  nerves." 

The  evening  meal  was  in  progress  at  Kleinwalde 
when  this  letter  came.  The  dining-room  was  fin- 
ished, and  it  was  the  first  meal  served  there  since 
its  transformation.  No  one  who  had  seen  it  on 
that  dark  day  of  Anna's  arrival  would  have  recog- 
nised it,  so  cheerful  did  it  look  with  its  whitewashed 
walls.  There  were  no  dark  corners  now  where 
china  shepherds  smiled  in  vain  ;  the  western  light 
filled  it,  and  to  a  person  lately  come  from  Susie's 
Hill  Street  house,  it  was  a  refreshment  to  sit  in 
any  place  so  simple  and  so  clean.  Reforms,  too, 
had  been  made  in  the  food,  and  the  bread  was  no 
longer  disfigured  by  caraway  seeds.  A  great  bowl 
of  blue  hepaticas,  fresh  from  the  forest,  stood  on 
the  table  ;  and  the  hepaticas  were  the  exact  colour 
of  Anna's  eyes.     When  Letty  saw  her  mother's 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  179 

handwriting  she  turned  cold.  It  was  the  warrant 
that  was  to  banish  her  from  Eden,  casting  her  back 
into  the  outer  darkness  of  the  Popular  Concerts 
and  the  literature  lectures.  She  was  in  the  act  of 
raising  a  spoonful  of  pudding  to  her  already  opened 
mouth,  when  she  caught  sight  of  the  well-known 
writing.  She  hesitated,  her  hand  shook,  and  finally 
she  laid  her  spoon  down  again  and  pushed  her 
plate  back.  At  the  great  crises  of  life  who  can 
go  on  eating  pudding?  What  then  was  her  relief 
and  joy  to  see  her  aunt  get  up,  come  round  to 
where  she  was  sitting  braced  to  hear  the  worst, 
put  her  arms  round  her  neck,  and  to  feel  herself 
being  kissed.  "  You  are  going  to  stay  with  me 
after  all!"  cried  Anna  delightedly.  "Dear  little 
Letty —  I  should  have  missed  you  horribly.  Aren't 
you  glad  ?  Your  mother  says  I'm  to  keep  you  for 
ever  so  long." 

"Oh,  I  say  —  how  ripping!"  exclaimed  Letty; 
and  being  a  practical  person  at  once  resumed  and 
finished  her  pudding. 

Miss  Leech,  too,  looked  exceedingly  pleased. 
How  could  she  be  anything  but  pleased  at  the 
prospect  of  staying  with  a  person  who  was  always 
so  kind  and  thoughtful  as  Anna?  Her  feelings, 
somehow,  were  never  hurt  by  Anna;  Lady  Est- 
court  seemed  to  have  a  special  knack  of  jumping 
on  them  every  time  she  spoke  to  her.  She  knew 
she  ought  not  to  have  such  sensitive  feelings,  and 
felt  that  it  was  more  her  fault  than  anyone  else's 
if  they  were  hurt;  yet  there  they  were,  and  being 
hurt  was  painful,  and  living  with  someone  so  even 
tempered  as  Anna  was  very  peaceful  and  pleasant. 
Mr.  Jessup  would  have  liked  Anna.     She  wished 


i8o  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

he  could  have  known  her.     A  higher  compHment 
it  was  not  in  Miss  Leech's  power  to  pay. 

And  when  Anna  saw  the  pleasure  on  Miss 
Leech's  face,  and  saw  that  she  thought  she  was 
to  stay  too,  she  felt  that  for  no  sister-in-law  in  the 
world  would  she  wipe  it  out  with  that  month's 
notice.  She  decided  to  say  nothing,  but  simply 
to  keep  her  as  well  as  Letty.  Her  two  thousand 
a  year  was  in  her  eyes  of  infinite  elasticity.  Never 
having  had  any  money,  she  had  no  notion  of  how 
far  it  would  go ;  and  she  did  not  hesitate  to  come 
to  a  decision  which  would  probably  ultimately 
oblige  her  to  reduce  the  number  of  those  persons 
Susie  described  as  victims. 

The  next  day  the  companion  arrived.  Anna  went 
out  into  the  hall  to  meet  her  when  she  heard  the 
approaching  wheels  of  the  shepherd-plaid  chariot. 
She  felt  rather  nervous  as  she  watched  her  emerg- 
ing from  beneath  the  hood,  for  she  knew  how 
much  of  the  comfort  and  peace  of  the  twelve 
would  depend  on  this  lady.  She  felt  exceedingly 
nervous  when  the  lady,  immediately  upon  shaking 
hands,  asked  if  she  could  speak  to  her  alone. 

''  Naturlich^'  said  Anna,  a  vague  fear  lest  Fritz, 
the  coachman,  should  have  insulted  her  on  the  way 
coming  over  her,  though  she  only  knew  Fritz  as 
the  mildest  of  men. 

She  led  the  way  into  the  drawing-room.  "  Now 
what  is  she  going  to  tell  me  dreadful  ?  "  she  thought, 
as  she  invited  her  to  sit  on  the  sofa,  having  been 
instructed  by  Trudi  that  that  was  the  place  where 
strangers  expected  to  sit.  "  Suppose  she  isn't  going 
to  stay,  and  I  shall  have  to  look  for  someone  all 
over  again }     Perhaps  the  lining  of  the  carriage 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  i8i 

has  been  too  much  for  her.  Bitie''  she  said  aloud, 
with  an  uneasy  smile,  motioning  Frau  von  Pen- 
heim  towards  the  sofa. 

The  new  companion  was  a  big,  elderly  lady  with 
a  sensible  face.  Her  boots  were  thick,  and  she 
wore  a  mackintosh.  She  sat  down,  and  looking 
more  attentively  at  Anna,  smiled.  Most  people 
who  saw  her  for  the  first  time  did  that.  It  was 
such  a  change  and  a  pleasure  after  seeing  plain 
faces,  and  dull  faces,  and  vain,  pretty  faces  for  an 
indefinite  period,  to  rest  one's  eyes  on  a  person  so 
charming  yet  manifestly  preoccupied  by  other  mat- 
ters than  her  charms. 

"  I  feel  it  my  duty,"  said  the  lady  in  German, 
"  before  we  go  any  further  to  tell  you  the  truth." 

This  was  alarming.  The  lady's  manner  was 
solemn.  Anna  inclined  her  head,  and  felt  scared. 
She  wished  that  Axel  Lohm  were  somewhere  near. 

"  I  see  you  are  young,"  continued  the  lady,  "and 
I  presume  that  you  are  inexperienced." 

"  Not  so  young,"  murmured  Anna,  who  felt  par- 
ticularly young  and  uncomfortable  at  that  moment, 
and  very  unlike  the  mistress  of  a  house  interview- 
ing a  companion.     "  Not  so  young  —  twenty-five." 

"  Twenty-five  t  You  do  not  look  it.  But  what 
is  twenty-five } " 

Anna  did  not  know,  so  said  nothing. 

"  My  position  here  would  be  a  responsible  one," 
continued  the  lady,  scrutinising  Anna's  face,  and 
smiling  again  at  what  she  saw  there.  "  Taking 
charge  of  a  motherless  girl  always  is.  And  the 
circumstances  in  this  case  are  peculiar." 

"  Yes,"  said  Anna,  "  they  are  even  more  peculiar 
than  you  imagine "     And  she  was  about  to 


i82  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

explain  the  approaching  advent  of  the  victims, 
when  the  lady  held  up  her  hand  in  a  masterful 
way,  as  though  enjoining  silence,  and  said,  "  First 
hear  me.  Through  a  series  of  misfortunes  I  have 
been  reduced  to  poverty  since  my  husband's  death. 
But  I  do  not  choose  to  live  on  the  charity  of  rela- 
tives, which  is  the  most  unbearable  form  of  charity 
calling  itself  by  that  holy  name,  and  I  am  deter- 
mined to  work  for  my  bread." 

She  paused.  Anna  could  find  nothing  better 
to  say  than  "  Oh." 

"  Out  of  consideration  for  my  relatives,  who  are 
enraged  at  my  resolution,  and  think  I  ought  to 
starve  quietly  on  what  they  choose  to  give  me 
sooner  than  make  myself  conspicuous  by  working, 
I  have  called  myself  Frau  von  Penheim.  I  will 
not  come  here  under  false  pretences,  and  to  you, 
privately,  I  will  confess  that  my  proper  title  is  the 
Princess  Ludwig,  of  that  house." 

She  stopped  to  observe  the  effect  of  this  an- 
nouncement. Anna  was  confounded.  A  prin- 
cess was  not  at  all  what  she  wanted.  She  felt 
that  she  had  no  use  whatever  for  princesses. 
How  could  she  ever  expect  one  to  get  up  early 
and  see  that  the  twelve  received  their  meat  in  due 
season  ?  "  Oh,"  she  said  again,  and  then  was 
silent. 

The  princess  watched  her  closely.  She  was 
very  poor,  and  very  anxious  to  have  the  place. 
" '  Oh '  is  so  English,"  she  said,  smiling  to  hide 
her  anxiety.     "  We  say  '  acL'  " 

Anna  laughed. 

"  And  do  not  think  that  all  German  princesses 
are  like  your  English  ones,"  she  went  on  eagerly. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  183 

"  My  father-in-law  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Fiirst 
for  services  rendered  to  the  state.  He  had  a 
large  family,  and  my  husband  was  a  younger 
son. 

Still  Anna  was  silent.  Then  she  said  "  I  — I 
wish "  and  then  stopped. 

"  What  do  you  wish,  my  dear  child  ?  " 

"  I  wish  —  that  I  —  that  you " 

"  That  you  had  known  it  beforehand  ?  Then 
you  would  never  have  taken  me,  even  on  trial," 
was  the  prompt  reply. 

Anna's  eyes  said  plainly,  "  No,  I  would  not." 

"And  it  is  so  important  that  I  should  find  some- 
thing to  do.  At  first  I  answered  advertisements 
in  my  real  name,  and  received  my  photograph 
back  by  the  next  post.  This,  and  the  anger  of 
my  family,  decided  me  to  drop  the  title  altogether. 
But  I  had  always  resolved  that  if  I  did  find  a 
place  I  would  confess  to  my  employer.  It  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  be  very  poor,"  she  added,  staring 
straight  before  her  with  eyes  growing  dim  at  her 
remembrances. 

"  Yes,"  said  Anna,  under  her  breath. 

"  To  have  nothing,  nothing  at  all,  and  to  be 
burdened  at  the  same  time  by  one's  birth." 

"  Oh,"  murmured  Anna,  with  a  little  catch  in 
her  voice. 

"And  to  be  dependent  on  people  who  only  wish 
that  you  were  safely  out  of  the  way  —  dead." 

"  Married,"  whispered  Anna. 

"  Why,  what  do  you  know  about  it  ?  "  said  the 
princess,  turning  quickly  to  her ;  for  she  had  been 
thinking  aloud  rather  than  addressing  anyone. 

"  1  know  everything  about  it,"  said  Anna ;  and 


1 84  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

in  a  rush  of  bad  but  eager  German  she  told  her  of 
those  old  days  when  even  the  sweeping  of  cross- 
ings had  seemed  better  than  living  on  relations, 
and  how  since  then  all  her  heart  had  been  filled 
with  pity  for  the  type  of  poverty  called  genteel, 
and  how  now  that  she  was  well  off  she  was  going 
to  help  women  who  were  in  the  same  sad  situation 
in  which  she  had  been.  Her  eyes  were  wet  when 
she  finished.  She  had  spoken  with  extraordinary 
enthusiasm,  a  fresh  wave  of  passionate  sympathy 
with  such  lives  passing  over  her ;  and  not  until 
she  had  done  did  she  remember  that  she  had  never 
before  seen  this  lady,  and  that  she  was  saying 
things  to  her  that  she  had  not  as  yet  said  to  the 
most  intimate  of  her  friends. 

She  felt  suddenly  uncomfortable ;  her  eyelashes 
quivered  and  drooped,  and  she  blushed. 

The  princess  contemplated  her  curiously.  "  I 
congratulate  you,"  she  said,  laying  her  hand  lightly 
for  a  moment  on  Anna's.  "  The  idea  and  the 
good  intentions  will  have  been  yours,  whatever 
the  result  may  be." 

This  was  not  very  encouraging  as  a  response  to 
an  outburst.  "  I  have  told  you  more  than  I  tell 
most  people,"  Anna  said,  looking  up  shamefacedly, 
"  because  you  have  had  much  the  same  experiences 
that  I  have." 

"  Except  the  uncle  at  the  end.  He  makes  such 
a  difference.  May  I  ask  if  many  of  the  ladies 
answered  both  advertisements  .f*  " 

"  No,  they  did  not." 

"  Not  one }  " 

"  Not  one." 

The  princess  thought  that  working  for   one's 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  185 

bread  was  distinctly  preferable  to  taking  Anna's 
charity ;  but  then  she  was  of  an  unusually  sturdy 
and  independent  nature.  "  I  can  assure  you,"  she 
said  after  a  short  silence,  "  that  I  would  do  my 
best  to  look  after  your  house  and  your  —  your 
friends  and  yourself." 

"  But  I  want  someone  who  will  do  everything 
—  order  the  meals,  train  the  servants  —  every- 
thing. And  get  up  early  besides,"  said  Anna,  her 
voice  full  of  doubt.  The  princess  really  belonged, 
she  felt,  to  the  category  of  sad,  sick,  and  sorry ; 
and  if  she  had  asked  for  a  place  among  the  twelve 
there  would  have  been  little  difficulty  in  giving 
her  one.  But  the  companion  she  had  imagined 
was  to  be  a  real  help,  someone  she  could  order 
about  as  she  chose,  certainly  not  a  person  unused 
to  being  ordered  about.  Even  the  parson's  sister- 
in-law  Helena  would  have  been  better  than  this. 

"  I  would  do  all  that,  naturally.  Do  you  think 
if  I  am  not  too  proud  to  take  wages  that  I  shall 
be  too  proud  to  do  the  w^ork  for  which  they  are 
paid?" 

"  Would  you  not  prefer "  began  Anna,  and 

hesitated. 

"  Would  I  not  prefer  what,  my  child  ?  " 

"Prefer  to  —  would  it  not  be  more  agreeable 
for  you  to  come  and  live  here  without  working.^ 
I  could  find  another  companion,  and  I  would  be 
happy  if  you  will  stay  here  as  —  as  one  of  the 
others." 

The  princess  laughed;  a  hearty,  big  laugh  in 
keeping  with  her  big  person. 

"  No,"  she  said.  "  I  would  not  like  that  at  all. 
But  thank  you,  dear  child,  for  making  the  offer. 


i86  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Let  me  stay  here  and  do  what  work  you  want 
done,  and  then  you  pay  me  for  it,  and  we  are 
quits.  I  assure  you  there  is  a  soHd  satisfaction 
in  being  quits.  I  shall  certainly  not  expect  any 
more  consideration  than  you  would  give  to  a 
Frau  Schultz.  And  I  will  be  able  to  take  care 
of  you ;  and  I  think,  if  you  will  not  be  angry  with 
me  for  saying  so,  that  you  greatly  need  taking 
care  of." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Anna,  with  an  effort,  "  let 
us  try  it  for  three  months." 

An  immense  load  was  lifted  off  the  princess's 
heart  by  these  words.  "  You  will  not  regret  it," 
she  said  emphatically. 

But  Anna  was  not  so  sure.  Though  she  did 
her  best  to  put  a  cheerful  face  on  her  new  bar- 
gain, she  could  not  help  fearing  that  her  enter- 
prise had  begun  badly.  She  was  unusually 
pensive  throughout  the  evening. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

What  the  Princess  Ludwig  thought  of  her  new 
place  it  would  be  difficult  to  say.  She  accepted 
her  position  as  minister  to  the  comforts  of  the 
hitherto  comfortless  without  remark  and  entirely 
as  a  matter  of  course.  She  got  up  at  hours  exem- 
plary in  their  earliness,  and  was  about  the  house 
rattling  a  bunch  of  keys  all  day  long.  She  was 
wholly  practical,  and  as  destitute  of  illusions  as 
she  was  of  education  in  the  ordinary  sense.  Her 
knowledge  of  German  literature  was  hardly  more 
extensive  than  Letty's,  and  of  other  tongues  and 
other  literatures  she  knew  and  cared  nothing.  As 
for  illusions,  she  saw  things  as  they  are,  and  had 
never  at  any  period  of  her  life  possessed  enthusi- 
asms. Nor  had  she  the  least  taste  for  hidden 
meanings  and  symbols.  Maeterlinck,  if  she  had 
heard  of  him,  would  have  been  dismissed  by  her 
with  an  easy  smile.  Anna's  whitewash  to  her  was 
whitewash;  a  disagreeable  but  economical  wall- 
covering. She  knew  and  approved  of  it  as  cheap ; 
how  could  she  dream  that  it  was  also  symbolic  ? 
She  never  dreamed  at  all,  either  sleeping  or  wak- 
ing. If  by  some  chance  she  had  fallen  into  mus- 
ings, she  would  have  mused  blood  and  iron,  the 
superiority  of  the  German  nation,  cookery  in  its 
three  iorms  feme,  burgerliche,  and  Hatismannskost, 
in  all  which  forms  she  was  preeminent  in  skill  — 
she  would  have  mused,  that  is,  on  facts,  plain  and 

187 


i88  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

undisputed.  If  she  had  had  children  she  would 
have  made  an  excellent  mother;  as  it  was  she 
made  excellent  cakes  —  also  a  form  of  activity  to 
be  commended.  She  was  a  Dettingen  before  her 
marriage,  and  the  Dettingens  are  one  of  the  oldest 
Prussian  families,  and  have  produced  more  first- 
rate  soldiers  and  statesmen  and  a  larger  number 
of  mothers  of  great  men  than  any  other  family 
in  that  part.  The  Penheims  and  Dettingens  had 
intermarried  continually,  and  it  was  to  his  mother's 
Dettingen  blood  that  the  first  Fiirst  Penheim 
owed  the  energy  that  procured  him  his  elevation. 
Princess  Ludwig  was  a  good  example  of  the  best 
type  of  female  Dettingen.  Like  many  other 
illiterates,  she  prided  herself  particularly  on  her 
sturdy  common  sense.  Regarding  this  quality, 
which  she  possessed,  as  more  precious  than  oth- 
ers which  she  did  not  possess,  she  was  not  likely 
to  sympathise  much  either  with  Anna's  plan  for 
making  people  happy,  or  with  those  who  were 
willing  to  be  made  happy  in  such  a  way.  A  sen- 
sible woman,  she  thought,  will  always  find  work, 
and  need  not  look  far  for  a  home.  She  herself 
had  been  handicapped  in  the  search  by  her  unfor- 
tunate title,  yet  with  patience  even  she  had  found 
a  haven.  Only  the  lazy  and  lackadaisical,  the 
morally  worthless,  that  is,  would,  she  was  con- 
vinced, accept  such  an  offer  as  Anna's.  It  was 
not,  however,  her  business.  Her  business  was  to 
look  after  Anna's  house;  and  she  did  it  with  a 
zeal  and  thoroughness  that  struck  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  the  maid-servants.  Trudi's  fitful  energy 
was  nothing  to  it.  Trudi  had  introduced  work- 
men and  chaos ;  the  princess,  with  a  rapidity  and 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  189 

skill  little  short  of  amazing  to  anyone  unac- 
quainted with  the  capabilities  of  the  well-trained 
German  Hausfrau,  cleared  out  the  workmen  and 
reduced  the  chaos  to  order.  Within  three  weeks 
the  house  was  ready,  and  Anna,  palpitating,  saw 
the  moment  approaching  when  the  first  batch  of 
unhappy  ones  might  be  received. 

Manske's  time  was  entirely  taken  up  writing 
letters  of  inquiry  concerning  the  applicants,  and 
it  was  surprising  in  what  huge  batches  they  had 
to  be  weeded  out.  Of  fifty  applications  received 
in  one  day,  three  or  four,  after  due  inquiry,  would 
alone  remain  for  further  consideration;  and  of 
these  three  or  four,  after  yet  closer  inquiry,  som^e- 
times  not  one  would  be  left. 

At  first  Anna  asked  the  princess's  advice  as  well 
as  Manske's,  and  it  was  when  she  was  present  at 
the  consultations  that  the  heap  into  which  the  let- 
ters of  the  unworthy  were  gathered  was  biggest. 
All  those  ladies  belonging  to  the  burgerliche  or 
middle  classes  were  in  her  eyes  wholly  unworthy. 
If  Anna  had  proposed  to  take  washerwomen  into 
her  home,  and  required  the  princess's  help  in 
brightening  their  lives,  it  would  have  been  given 
in  the  full  measure,  pressed  down  and  running 
over,  that  befits  a  Christian  gentlewoman ;  but  for 
the  Burger  lichen,  those  belonging  to  the  class 
more  immediately  below  her  own,  the  princess's 
feeling  was  only  Christian  so  long  as  they  kept  a 
great  way  off.  There  was  so  much  good  sense 
in  the  objections  she  made  that  Anna,  who  did 
her  best  to  keep  an  open  mind  and  listen  atten- 
tively to  advice,  was  forced  to  agree  with  her,  and 
added  letters  to  the  ever-increasing  heap  of  the 


I90  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

rejected  which  she  might  otherwise  have  reserved 
for  riper  consideration.  After  two  or  three  days, 
however,  it  became  clear  to  her  that  if  she  contin- 
ued to  consult  the  princess,  no  one  would  be  ac- 
cepted at  all,  for  Manske's  respect  for  that  lady 
was  so  profound  that  he  was  invariably  of  her 
opinion.  She  did  not,  therefore,  invite  her  again 
to  assist  at  the  interviews.  Still,  all  she  had  said, 
and  the  knowledge  that  she  must  know  her  own 
countrywomen  fairly  thoroughly,  made  Anna  pru- 
dent; and  so  it  came  about  that  the  first  arrivals 
were  to  be  only  three  in  number,  chosen  without 
reference  to  the  princess,  and  one  of  them  was 
burger  lick, 

"  We  can  meanwhile  proceed  with  our  inquiries 
about  the  remaining  nine,"  said  Manske, "  and  the 
gracious  Miss  will  be  always  gaining  experience." 

She  trod  on  air  during  the  days  preceding  the 
arrival  of  the  chosen.  To  say  that  she  was  bliss- 
ful would  be  but  an  inadequate  description  of  her 
state  of  mind.  The  weather  was  beautiful,  and  it 
increased  her  happiness  tenfold  to  know  that 
their  new  life  was  to  begin  in  sunshine.  She  had 
never  a  doubt  as  to  their  delight  in  the  sun- 
chequered  forest,  in  the  freshness  of  the  glittering 
sea,  in  the  peacefulness  of  the  quiet  country  life, 
so  quiet  that  the  week  seemed  to  be  all  Sundays. 
Were  not  these  things  sufficient  for  herself  ?  Did 
she  ever  tire  of  those  long  pine  vistas,  with  the 
narrow  strip  of  clearest  blue  between  the  gently 
waving  tree-tops  ?  The  dreamy  murmur  of  the 
forest  gave  her  an  exquisite  pleasure.  To  see  the 
bloom  on  the  pink  and  grey  trunks  of  the  pines, 
and  the  sun  on  the  moss  and  lichen  beneath,  was 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  191 

SO  deep  a  satisfaction  to  her  soul  that  the  thought 
that  others  who  had  been  knocked  about  by  life 
would  not  feel  it  too,  would  not  enter  with  pro- 
foundest  thankfulness  into  this  other  world  of 
peace,  never  struck  her  at  all.  When  these  poor 
tired  women,  freed  at  last  from  every  care  and 
every  anxiety,  had  refreshed  themselves  with  the 
music  and  fragrance  of  the  forest,  there  was  the 
garden  across  the  road  to  enjoy,  with  the  marsh 
already  strewn  with  kingcups  on  the  other  side 
of  the  hedge  already  turning  green;  and  the  sea 
with  the  fishing-smacks  passing  up  and  down, 
and  the  silver  gleam  of  gulls'  wings  circling 
round  the  orange  sails,  and  eagles  floating  high 
up  aloft,  specks  in  the  infinite  blue ;  and  then 
there  were  drives  along  the  coast  towards  the 
north,  where  the  wholesome  wind  blew  fresher 
than  in  the  woods;  and  quiet  evenings  in  the 
roomy  house,  where  all  that  was  asked  of  them 
was  that  they  should  be  happy. 

"  It's  a  lovely  plan,  isn't  it,  Letty  ? "  she  said 
joyously,  the  evening  before  they  were  to  arrive, 
as  she  stood  with  her  arm  round  Letty 's  shoulder 
at  the  bottom  of  the  garden,  where  they  had  both 
been  watching  the  sails  of  the  fishing-smacks 
during  those  short  sunset  moments  when  they 
looked  like  the  bright  wings  of  spirits  moving 
over  the  face  of  the  placid  waters. 

"  I  should  rather  think  it  was,"  replied  Letty, 
who  was  profoundly  interested. 

They  got  up  at  sunrise  the  next  morning,  and 
went  out  into  the  forest  in  search  of  hepaticas 
and  windfiowers  with  which  to  decorate  the  three 
bedrooms.    These  bedrooms  were  the  largest  and 


192  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

pleasantest  in  the  house.  Anna  had  given  up 
her  own  because  she  thought  the  windows  par- 
ticularly pleasing,  and  had  gone  into  a  little  one 
in  the  fervour  of  her  desire  to  lavish  all  that  was 
best  on  her  new  friends.  The  rooms  were  fur- 
nished with  special  care,  an  immense  amount  of 
thouo^ht  havino:  been  bestowed  on  the  colour  of 
the  curtains,  the  pattern  of  the  porcelain,  and  the 
books  filling  the  shelves  above  each  writing-table. 
The  colours  and  patterns  were  the  nearest  ap- 
proach Berlin  could  produce  to  Anna's  own 
favourite  colours  and  patterns.  She  wasted  half 
her  time,  when  the  rooms  were  ready,  sitting  in 
them  and  picturing  what  her  own  delight  would 
have  been  if  she,  like  the  poor  ladies  for  whom 
they  were  intended,  had  come  straight  out  of  a 
cold,  unkind  world  into  such  pretty  havens. 

The  choice  of  books  had  been  a  great  difficulty, 
and  there  had  been  much  correspondence  on  the 
subject  with  Berlin  before  a  selection  had  been 
made.  Books  there  must  be,  for  no  room,  she 
thought,  was  habitable  without  them ;  and  she 
had  tried  to  imagine  what  manner  of  literature 
would  most  appeal  to  her  unhappy  ones.  It  was 
to  be  presumed  that  their  ages  were  such  as  to 
exclude  frivolity ;  therefore  she  bought  very  few 
novels.  She  thought  Dickens  translated  into 
German  would  be  a  safe  choice;  also  Schlegel's 
Shakespeare  for  loftier  moments.  The  German 
classics  were  represented  by  Goethe  in  one  room, 
Schiller  in  another,  and  Heine  in  the  third.  In 
each  room  also  there  was  a  German-English  dic- 
tionary, for  the  facilitation  of  intercourse.  Finally, 
she  asked  the  princess  to  recommend  something 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  193 

they  would  be  sure  to  like,  and  she  recommended 
cookery  books. 

"  But  they  are  not  going  to  cook,"  said  Anna, 
surprised. 

''  Es  ist  egal — it  is  always  interesting  to  read 
good  recipes.  No  other  reading  affords  me  the 
same  pleasure." 

"  But  only  when  you  want  something  new 
cooked." 

"  No,  no,  at  all  times,"  insisted  the  princess. 

Anna  could  not  quite  believe  that  such  a  taste 
was  general ;  but  in  case  one  of  the  three  should 
share  it,  she  put  a  cookery  book  in  one  bookcase. 
In  the  other  two  severally  to  balance  it,  she  slipt 
at  the  last  moment  a  volume  of  Maeterlinck,  to 
which  at  that  period  she  was  greatly  attached  ;  and 
Matthew  Arnold's  poems,  to  which  also  at  that 
period  she  was  greatly  attached. 

The  princess  went  about  with  pursed  lips  while 
these  preparations  were  in  progress ;  and  when,  at 
sunrise  on  the  last  morning,  she  was  awakened  by 
stealthy  footsteps  and  smothered  laughter  on  the 
landing  outside  her  room,  and,  opening  her  door 
an  inch  and  peering  out  as  in  duty  bound  in  case 
the  sounds  should  be  emanating  from  some  unac- 
countably mirthful  maid-sen.^ant,  she  saw  Anna 
and  Letty  creeping  downstairs  with  their  hats  on 
and  baskets  in  their  hands,  she  guessed  what  they 
were  going  to  do,  and  got  back  into  bed  with  lips 
more  pursed  than  ever.  Did  she  not  know  who 
had  been  chosen,  and  that  one  of  the  three  was  a 
Burgerliche  ? 

About  eight  o'clock,  when  the  two  girls  were 
coming  out  of  the  forest  with  their  baskets  full 


194  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

and  their  faces  happy,  Axel  Lohm  was  riding 
thoughtfully  past,  having  just  settled  an  unpleas- 
ant business  at  Klein  walde.  Dell  wig  had  sent 
him  an  urgent  message  in  the  small  hours ;  there 
had  been  a  brawl  among  the  labourers  about  a 
woman,  and  a  man  had  been  stabbed.  Axel  had 
ordered  the  aggressor  to  be  locked  up  in  the  little 
room  that  served  as  a  temporary  prison  till  he 
could  be  handed  over  to  the  Stralsund  authorities. 
His  wife,  a  girl  of  twenty,  was  ill,  and  she  and  her 
three  small  children  depended  entirely -on  the 
man's  earnings.  The  victim  appeared  to  be  dying, 
and  the  man  would  certainly  be  punished.  What, 
then,  thought  Axel,  was  to  become  of  the  wife 
and  the  children?  Frau  Dellwig  had  told  him 
that  she  sent  soup  every  day  at  dinner-time,  but 
soup  once  a  day  would  neither  comfort  them  nor 
make  them  fat.  Besides,  he  had  a  notion  that  the 
soup  of  Frau  Dellwig's  charity  was  very  thin. 
He  was  riding  dejectedly  enough  down  the  road 
on  his  way  home,  looking  straight  before  him,  his 
mouth  a  mere  grim  line,  thinking  how  grievous  it 
was  that  the  consequences  of  sin  should  fall  with 
their  most  terrific  weight  nearly  always  on  the 
innocent,  on  the  helpless  women-folk  and  the 
weak  little  children,  when  Anna  and  Letty  ap- 
peared, talking  and  laughing,  on  the  edge  of  the 
forest. 

Letty,  we  know,  had  not  been  kindly  treated  by 
nature,  but  even  she  was  a  pleasing  object  in  her 
harmless  morning  cheerfulness  after  the  faces  he 
had  just  seen ;  and  Anna's  beauty,  made  radiant 
by  happiness  and  contentment,  startled  him.  He 
had  a  momentary  twinge,  gone  almost  before  he 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  195 

had  realised  it,  a  sudden  clear  conception  of  his 
great  loneliness.  The  satisfaction  he  strove  to  ex- 
tract from  improving  his  estate  for  the  benefit  of 
his  brother  Gustav  appeared  to  him  at  that  mo- 
ment to  bear  a  singular  resemblance,  in  its  thin- 
ness, to  Frau  Dellwig's  charitable  soup.  He  got 
off  his  horse  to  speak  to  her,  and  rested  his  eyes, 
tired  by  looking  at  the  hideous  passions  on  the 
brawler's  face,  on  hers.  "To-day  is  the  important 
day,  is  it  not  ?"  he  asked,  glancing  from  her  flower- 
like face  to  the  flowers. 

"  The  first  three  come  this  afternoon." 

"  So  Manske  told  me.  You  are  very  happy,  I 
can  see,"  he  said,  smiling. 

"  I  never  was  so  happy  before." 

"  Your  uncle  was  a  wise  man.  He  told  me  he 
was  going  to  leave  you  Kleinwalde  because  he  felt 
sure  you  would  be  happy  leading  the  simple  life 
here." 

"  Did  he  talk  about  me  to  you  ?  " 

"  After  his  last  visit  to  England  he  talked  about 
you  all  the  time." 

"  Oh  }  "  said  Anna,  looking  at  him  thoughtfully. 
Uncle  Joachim,  she  remembered  perfectly,  had 
urged  tw^o  things  —  the  leading  of  the  better  life, 
and  the  marrying  of  a  good  German  gentleman. 
A  faint  flush  came  into  her  face  and  faded  again. 
She  had  suddenly  become  aware  that  Axel  was 
the  good  German  gentleman  he  had  meant.  Well, 
the  wisest  uncle  was  subject  to  errors  of  judgment. 

"  I  trust  those  women  will  not  worry  you  too 
much,"  he  said,  thinking  how  immense  would 
be  the  pity  if  those  happy  eyes  ever  lost  their 
joyousness. 


196  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Worry  me  ?  Poor  things,  they  won't  have  any 
energy  of  any  sort  left  after  all  they  have  gone 
through.     I  never  read  such  pitiful  letters." 

"Well,  I  don't  know,"  said  Axel  doubtfully. 
"  Manske  says  one  of  them  is  a  Treumann.  It  is 
a  family  distinguished  by  its  size  and  its  disagree- 
ableness." 

"  Oh,  but  she  only  married  a  Treumann,  and 
isn't  one  herself." 

"  But  a  woman  generally  adopts  the  peculiarities 
of  the  family  she  marries  into,  especially  if  they 
are  unpleasant." 

"  But  she  has  been  a  widow  for  years.  And  is 
so  poor.     And  is  so  crushed." 

"  I  never  yet  heard  of  a  permanently  crushed 
Treumann,"  said  Axel,  shaking  his  head. 

"You  are  trying  to  make  me  uneasy,"  said  Anna, 
a  slight  touch  of  impatience  in  her  voice.  She 
was  singularly  sensitive  about  her  chosen  ones; 
sensitive  in  the  way  mothers  are  about  a  child  that 
is  deformed. 

"  No,  no,"  he  said  quickly,  "  I  only  wish  to  warn 
you.  You  may  be  disappointed  —  it  is  just  possi- 
ble." He  could  not  bear  to  think  of  her  as 
disappointed. 

"  Pray,  do  you  know  anything  against  the  other 
two  ? "  she  asked  with  some  defiance.  "  One  of 
them  is  a  Baroness  Elmreich,  and  the  other  is  a 
Fraulein  Kuhrauber." 

Axel  looked  amused.  "  I  never  heard  of 
Fraulein  Kuhrauber,"  he  said.  "  What  does 
Princess  Ludwig  say  to  her  coming  ? " 

"  Nothing  at  all.     What  should  she  say  ? " 

It  was  Fraulein   Kuhrauber's  coming  that  had 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  197 

more  particularly  occasioned  the  pursing  of  the 
princess's  lips. 

"  I  know  some  Elmreichs,"  said  Axel.  "  A  few 
of  them  are  respectable ;  but  one  branch  at  least 
of  the  family  is  completely  demoralised.  A  Baron 
Elmreich  shot  himself  last  year  because  he  had 
been  caught  cheating  at  cards.  And  one  of  his 
sisters  —  oh,  well,  some  of  them  are  harmless,  I 
believe." 

"  Thank  you." 

"  You  are  angry  with  me  ? " 

"  Very." 

"And  why.^" 

"  You  want  to  prejudice  me  against  these  poor 
things.  They  can't  help  what  distant  relations  do. 
They  will  get  away  from  them  in  my  house,  at  least, 
and  have  peace." 

"  Miss  Letty,  is  your  aunt  often  —  what  is  the 
word  —  so  fractious  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Letty,  who  found  it 
dull  waiting  in  silence  while  other  people  talked. 
"  It's  breakfast  time,  you  know,  and  people  can't 
stand  much  just  about  then." 

"  Oh,  youthful  philosopher !  "  exclaimed  Axel. 
"  So  young,  and  of  the  female  sex,  and  yet  to  have 
pierced  to  the  very  root  of  human  weakness !  " 

"  Stuff,"  said  Letty,  offended. 

"  What,  are  you  going  to  be  angry  too  ?  Then 
let  me  get  on  my  horse  and  go." 

"  It's  the  best  thing  you  can  do,"  said  Letty, 
always  frank,  but  doubly  so  when  she  was  hungry. 

"  Shall  you  come  and  see  us  soon  ? "  Anna 
asked,  gathering  up  her  skirts  in  her  one  free 
hand,  preparatory  to  crossing  the  muddy  road. 


198  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  But  you  are  angry  with  me." 

She  looked  up  and  laughed.  "  Not  now,"  she 
said ;  "  I've  finished.  Do  you  think  I'm  going  to 
be  angry  long  this  pleasant  April  morning  ?  " 

"  I  smell  the  coffee,"  observed  Letty,  sniffing. 

"  Then  I  will  come  to-morrow  if  I  may,"  said 
Axel,  "  and  make  the  acquaintance  of  Frau  von 
Treumann  and   Baroness  Elmreich." 

"And  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,"  said  Anna,  with 
emphasis.  She  thought  she  saw  the  same  ten- 
dency in  him  that  was  so  manifest  in  the  princess, 
a  tendency  to  ignore  the  very  existence  of  any 
one  called  Kuhrauber. 

"And  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,"  repeated  Axel 
gravely. 

"  They've  burnt  the  toast  again,"  said  Letty ; 
"  I  can  hear  them  scraping  off  the  black." 

"  I  wish  you  good  luck,  then,"  said  Axel,  taking 
off  his  hat ;  "  with  all  my  heart  I  wish  you  good 
luck,  and  that  these  ladies  may  very  soon  be  as 
happy  as  you  are  yourself." 

"  That's  nice,"  said  Anna,  approvingly;  "  so  much, 
much  nicer  than  the  other  things  you  have  been 
saying."  And  she  nodded  to  him,  all  smiles,  as 
she  crossed  over  to  the  house  and  he  rode  away. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

Long  before  the  carriage  bringing  the  three 
chosen  ones  from  the  station  could  possibly  ar- 
rive, Anna  and  Letty  began  to  wait  in  the  hall, 
standing  at  the  windows,  going  out  on  to  the 
steps,  looking  into  the  different  rooms  every  few 
minutes  to  make  sure  that  everything  was  ready. 
The  bedrooms  were  full  of  the  hepaticas  of  the 
morning ;  the  coffee  had  been  set  out  with  infinite 
care  and  an  eye  to  effect  by  Anna  herself  on  a 
little  table  in  the  drawing-room  by  the  open  win- 
dow, through  which  the  mild  April  air  came  in 
and  gently  fanned  the  curtains  to  and  fro ;  and 
the  princess  had  baked  her  best  cakes  for  the 
occasion,  inwardly  deploring,  as  she  did  so,  that 
such  cakes  should  be  offered  to  such  people. 
When  she  had  seen  that  all  was  as  it  should  be, 
she  withdrew  into  her  own  room,  where  she  re- 
mained darning  sheets,  for  she  had  asked  Anna 
to  excuse  her  from  being  present  at  the  arrival. 
"  It  is  better  that  you  should  make  their  acquaint- 
ance by  yourself,"  she  said.  "The  presence  of 
too  many  strangers  at  first  might  disconcert  them 
under  the  circumstances." 

Miss  Leech  profited  by  this  remark,  made  in 
her  hearing,  and  did  not  appear  either;  so  that 
when  the  carriage  drove  in  at  the  gate  only  Anna 
and  Letty  were  standing  at  the  door  in  the  sun- 
shine. 

199 


200  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna's  heart  bumped  so  as  the  three  slowly 
disentangled  themselves  and  got  out,  that  she 
could  hardly  speak.  Her  face  flushed  and  grew 
pale  by  turns,  and  her  eyes  were  shining  with 
something  suspiciously  like  tears.  What  she 
wanted  to  do  was  to  put  her  arms  right  round 
the  three  poor  ladies,  and  kiss  them,  and  comfort 
them,  and  make  up  for  all  their  griefs.  What  she 
did  was  to  put  out  a  very  cold,  shaking  hand,  and 
say  in  a  voice  that  trembled,  "  Gute^i  Tag!' 

*'  Guten  Tag','  said  the  first  lady  to  descend ; 
evidently,  from  her  mourning,  the  widowed  Frau 
von  Treumann. 

Anna  took  her  extended  hand  in  both  hers,  and 
clasping  it  tight  looked  at  its  owner  with  all  her 
heart  in  her  eyes.  "  Es  fre7it  mich  so  —  es  freut 
mich  so''  she  murmured  incoherently. 

"  Ack  —  you  are  Miss  Estcourt }  "  asked  the 
lady  in  German. 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  Anna,  still  clinging  to  her 
hand,  "and  so  happy,  so  very  happy  to  see 
you." 

Frau  von  Treumann  hereupon  made  some  re- 
marks which  Anna  supposed  were  of  a  grateful 
nature,  but  she  spoke  so  rapidly  and  in  such  sub- 
dued tones,  glancing  round  uneasily  as  she  did 
so  at  the  coachman  and  at  the  others,  and  Anna 
herself  was  so  much  agitated,  that  what  she  said 
was  quite  incomprehensible.  Again  Anna  longed 
to  throw  her  arms  round  the  poor  woman's  neck, 
and  interrupt  her  with  kisses,  and  tell  her  that 
gratitude  was  not  required  of  her,  but  only  that 
she  should  be  happy ;  but  she  felt  that  if  she  did 
so  she  would  begin  to  cry,  and  tears  were  surely 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  201 

out  of  place  on  such  a  joyful  occasion,  especially 
as  nobody  else  looked  in  the  least  like  crying. 

"  You  are  Frau  von  Treumann,  I  know,"  she 
said,  holding  her  hand,  and  turning  to  the  next 
one  and  beaming  on  her,  "  and  this  is  Baroness 
Elmreich  ?  " 

"  No,  no,"  said  the  third  lady  quickly,  "  /  am 
Baroness  Elmreich." 

Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  an  ample  person  whose 
body,  swathed  in  travelling  cloaks,  had  blotted 
out  the  other  little  woman,  looked  frightened  and 
apologetic,  and  made  deep  curtseys. 

Anna  shook  their  hands  one  after  the  other 
with  all  the  warmth  that  was  glowing  in  her 
heart.  Her  defective  German  forsook  her  almost 
completely.  She  did  nothing  but  repeat  discon- 
nected ejaculations,  ''so  reizeiid — so  glucklich  — 

so  erfreut "  and  fill  in  the  gaps  with  happy, 

quivering  smiles  at  each  in  turn,  and  timid  little 
pats  on  any  hand  within  her  reach. 

Letty  meanwhile  stood  in  the  shadow  of  the 
doorway,  wishing  that  she  were  young  enough 
to  suck  her  thumb.  It  kept  on  going  up  to  her 
mouth  of  its  own  accord,  and  she  kept  on  pulling 
it  down  again.  This  was  one  of  the  occasions, 
she  felt,  when  the  sucking  of  thumbs  is  a  relief 
and  a  blessing.  It  gives  one's  superfluous  hands 
occupation,  and  oneself  a  countenance.  She 
shifted  from  one  foot  to  the  other  uneasily,  and 
held  on  tight  to  the  rebellious  thumb,  for  the  tall 
lady  who  had  got  out  first  was  fixing  her  with  a 
stare  that  chilled  her  blood.  The  tall  lady,  who 
was  very  tall  and  thin,  and  had  round  unblinking 
dark  eyes  set  close  together   like  an  owl's,  and 


202  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

strongly  marked  black  eyebrows,  said  nothing, 
but  examined  her  slowly  from  the  tip  of  the  bow 
of  ribbon  trembling  on  her  head  to  the  buckles  of 
the  shoes  creaking  on  her  feet.  Ought  she  to 
offer  to  shake  hands  with  her,  or  ought  she  to 
wait  to  be  shaken  hands  with,  Letty  asked  herself 
distractedly.  Anyhow  it  was  rather  rude  to  stare 
like  that.  She  had  always  been  taught  that  it  was 
rude  to  stare  like  that. 

Anna  had  forgotten  all  about  her,  and  only 
remembered  her  when  they  were  in  the  drawing- 
room  and  she  had  begun  to  pour  out  the  coffee. 
"  Oh,  Letty,  where  are  you  ?  This  is  my  niece," 
she  said;  and  Letty  was  at  last  shaken  hands 
with. 

"  Ah  —  she  keeps  you  company,"  said  the  bar- 
oness.    "  You  found  it  lonely  here,  naturally." 

"  Oh  no,  I  am  never  lonely,"  said  Anna  cheer- 
fully, filling  the  cups  and  giving  them  to  Letty  to 
carry  round. 

"  How  pleasant  the  air  is  to-day,"  observed  Frau 
von  Treumann,  edging  her  chair  away  from  the 
window.  "  Damp,  but  pleasant.  You  like  fresh 
air,  I  see." 

"  Oh,  I  love  it,"  said'  Anna;  "  and  it  is  so  beau- 
tiful here  —  so  pure,  and  full  of  the  sea." 

"  You  are  not  afraid  of  catching  cold,  sitting  so 
near  an  open  window }  " 

"  Oh,  is  it  too  much  for  you  ?  Letty,  shut  the 
window.  It  is  getting  chilly.  The  days  are  so 
fine  that  one  forgets  it  is  only  April." 

Anna  talked  German  and  poured  out  the  coffee 
with  a  nervous  haste  unusual  to  her.  The  three 
women  sitting  round  the  little  table  staring  at  her 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  203 

made  her  feel  terribly  nervous.  She  was  happy 
beyond  words  to  have  got  them  safely  under  her 
own  roof  at  last,  but  she  was  nervous.  She  was 
determined  that  there  should  be  no  barriers  of 
conventionality  from  the  first  between  themselves 
and  her;  not  a  minute  more  of  their  lives  was  to 
be  wasted ;  this  was  their  home,  and  she  was  all 
ready  to  love  them ;  she  had  made  up  her  mind 
that  however  shy  she  felt  she  was  going  to  behave 
as  though  they  were  her  dear  friends  —  which  in- 
deed, she  assured  herself,  was  exactly  what  they 
were.  Therefore  she  struggled  bravely  against 
her  nervousness,  addressing  them  collectively  and 
singly,  saying  whatever  came  first  into  her  head 
in  her  anxiety  to  say  something,  smiling  at  them, 
pressing  the  princess's  cakes  on  them,  hardly  let- 
ting them  drink  their  coffee  before  she  wanted  to 
give  them  more.  But  it  was  no  good ;  she  was 
and  remained  nervous,  and  her  hand  shook  so 
when  she  lifted  it  that  she  was  ashamed. 

Fraulein  Kuhrauber  was  the  one  who  stared 
least.  If  she  caught  Anna's  eye  her  own  drooped, 
whereas  the  eyes  of  the  other  two  never  wavered. 
She  sat  on  the  edge  of  her  chair  in  a  way  made 
familiar  to  Anna  by  intercourse  with  Frau  Manske, 
and  whatever  anybody  said  she  nodded  her  head 
and  murmured  "/^,  ebenr  She  was  obviously  ill 
at  ease,  and  dropped  the  sugar-tongs  when  she  was 
offered  sugar  with  a  loud  clatter  on  to  the  var- 
nished floor,  nearly  sweeping  the  cups  off  the  table 
in  her  effort  to  pick  them  up  again. 

"  Oh,  do  not  mind,"  said  Anna,  "  Letty  will  pick 
them  up.  They  are  stupid  things  —  much  too  big 
for  the  sugar-basin." 


204  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"/^,  eben','  said  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  sitting  up 
and  looking  perturbed.  The  other  two  removed 
their  eyes  from  Anna's  face  for  a  moment  to  stare 
at  the  Fraulein.  The  baroness,  a  small,  fair  per- 
son with  hair  arranged  in  those  little  flat  curls 
called  kiss-me-quicks  on  each  cheek,  and  wide-open 
pale  blue  eyes,  and  a  little  mouth  with  no  lips,  or 
lips  so  thin  that  they  were  hardly  visible,  sat  very 
still  and  straight,  and  had  a  way  of  moving  her 
eyes  round  from  one  face  to  the  other  without  at 
the  same  time  moving  her  head.  She  was  un- 
married, and  was  probably  about  thirty-five,  Anna 
thought,  but  she  had  always  evaded  questions  in 
the  correspondence  about  her  age.  Fraulein  Kuh- 
rauber was  also  thirty-five,  and  as  large  and  bloom- 
ing as  the  baroness  was  small  and  pale.  Frau  von 
Treumann  was  over  fifty,  and  had  had  more  sor- 
rows, judging  from  her  letters,  than  the  other  two. 
She  sat  nearest  Anna,  who  every  now  and  then 
laid  her  hand  gently  on  hers  and  let  it  rest  there 
a  moment,  in  her  determination  to  thaw  all  frost 
from  the  very  beginning.  "  Oh,  I  quite  forgot,' 
she  said  cheerfully  —  the  amount  of  cheerfulness 
she  put  into  her  voice  made  her  laugh  at  herself 
—  "I  quite  forgot  to  introduce  you  to  each  other." 

"  We  did  it  at  the  station,"  said  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann, "  when  we  found  ourselves  all  entering  your 
carriage." 

"  The  Elmreichs  are  connected  with  the  Treu- 
manns,"  observed  the  baroness. 

"  We  are  such  a  large  family,"  said  Frau  von 
Treumann  quickly,  "  that  we  are  connected  with 
nearly  everybody." 

The  tone  was  cold,  and  there  was  a  silence. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  205 

Neither  of  them,  apparently,  was  connected  with 
Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  who  buried  her  face  in  her 
cup,  in  which  the  tea-spoon  remained  while  she 
drank,  and  heartily  longed  for  connections. 

But  she  had  none.  She  was  absolutely  without 
relations  except  deceased  ones.  She  had  been  an 
orphan  since  she  was  two,  cared  for  by  her  one 
aunt  till  she  was  ten.  The  aunt  died,  and  she 
found  a  refuge  in  an  orphanage  till  she  was  six- 
teen, when  she  was  told  that  she  must  earn  her 
bread.  She  was  a  lazy  girl  even  in  those  days, 
who  liked  eating  her  bread  better  than  earning  it. 
No  more,  however,  being  forthcoming  in  the  or- 
phanage, she  went  into  a  pastor's  family  as  Stiltze 
der  Hausfrau.  These  Stutze,  or  supports,  are 
common  in  middle-class  German  families,  where 
they  support  the  mistress  of  the  house  in  all  her 
manifold  duties,  cooking,  baking,  mending,  iron- 
ing, teaching  or  amusing  the  children  —  being  in 
short  a  comfort  and  blessing  to  harassed  mothers. 
But  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  had  no  talent  whatever  for 
comforting  mothers,  and  she  was  quickly  requested 
to  leave  the  busy  and  populous  parsonage ;  where- 
upon she  entered  upon  the  series  of  driftings  last- 
ing twenty  years,  which  landed  her,  by  a  wonderful 
stroke  of  fortune,  in  Anna's  arms. 

When  she  saw  the  advertisement,  her  future 
was  looking  very  black.  She  was,  as  usual,  under 
notice  to  quit,  and  had  no  other  place  in  view,  and 
had  saved  nothing.  It  is  true  the  advertisement 
only  offered  a  home  to  women  of  good  family ;  but 
she  got  over  that  difficulty  by  reflecting  that  her 
family  was  all  in  heaven,  and  that  there  could  be 
no  relations  more  respectable  than  angels.     She 


2o6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

wrote  therefore  in  glowing  terms  of  the  paternal 
Kuhrauber, ''  gegejiwartig  mit  Gott','  as  she  put  it, 
expatiating  on  his  intellect  and  gifts  (he  was  a  man 
of  letters,  she  said),  while  he  yet  dwelt  upon  earth. 
Manske,  with  all  his  inquiries,  could  find  out  noth- 
ing about  her  except  that  she  was,  as  she  said, 
an  orphan,  poor,  friendless,  and  struggling ;  and 
Anna,  just  then  impatient  of  the  objections  the 
princess  made  to  every  applicant,  quickly  decided 
to  accept  this  one,  against  whom  not  a  word  had 
been  said.  So  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  who  had  spent 
her  life  in  shirking  work,  who  was  quite  thriftless 
and  improvident,  who  had  never  felt  particularly 
unhappy,  and  whose  father  had  been  a  postman, 
found  herself  being  welcomed  with  an  enthusiasm 
that  astonished  her  to  Anna's  home,  being  smiled 
upon  and  patted,  having  beautiful  things  said^  to 
her,  things  the  very  opposite  to  those  to  which 
she  had  been  used,  things  to  the  effect  that  she 
was  now  to  rest  herself  for  ever  and  to  be  sure 
and  not  do  anything  except  just  that  which  made 
her  happiest. 

It  was  very  wonderful.  It  seemed  much,  much 
too  good  to  be  true.  And  the  delight  that  filled 
her  as  she  sat  eating  excellent  cakes,  and  the  dis- 
comfort she  endured  because  of  the  stares  of  the 
other  two  women,  and  the  consciousness  that  she 
had  never  learned  how  to  behave  in  the  society  of 
persons  with  vojt  before  their  names,  produced  such 
mingled  feelings  of  ecstasy  and  fright  in  her  bosom 
that  it  was  quite  natural  she  should  drop  the  sugar- 
tongs,  and  upset  the  cream-jug,  and  choke  over 
her  coffee  —  all  of  which  things  she  did,  to  Anna's 
distress,  who  suffered  with  her  in  her  agitation, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  207 

while  the  eyes  of  the  other  two  watched  each 
successive  catastrophe  with  profoundest  atten- 
tion. 

It  was  an  uncomfortable  half  hour.  "  I  am  shy, 
and  they  are  shy,"  Anna  said  to  herself,  apologis- 
ing as  it  were  for  the  undoubted  flatness  that  pre- 
vailed. How  could  it  be  otherwise,  she  thought  ? 
Did  she  expect  them  to  gush?  Heaven  forbid. 
Yet  it  was  an  important  crisis  in  their  lives,  this 
passing  for  ever  from  neglect  and  loneliness  to 
love,  and  she  wondered  vaguely  that  the  obviously 
paramount  feeling  should  be  interest  in  the  awk- 
wardness of  Fraulein  Kuhrauber. 

Her  German  faltered,  and  threatened  to  give 
out  entirely.  The  inevitable  pause  came,  and  they 
could  hear  the  sparrows  quarrelling  in  the  golden 
garden,  and  the  creaking  of  a  distant  pump. 

"  How  still  it  is,"  observed  the  baroness  with  a 
slight  shiver. 

"  You  have  no  farmyard  near  the  house  to 
make  it  more  cheerful,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann. 
"  My  father's  house  had  the  garden  at  the  back, 
and  the  farmyard  in  the  front,  and  one  did  not 
feel  so  cut  off  from  everything.  There  was 
always  something  going  on  in  the  yard  —  always 
life  and  noises." 

"Really?"  said  Anna;  and  again  the  pump 
and  the  sparrows  became  audible. 

"  The  stillness  is  truly  remarkable,"  observed 
the  baroness  again. 

"/^,  eben''  said  Fraulein  Kuhrauber. 

"  But  it  is  beautiful,  isn't  it,"  said  Anna,  gazing 
out  at  the  light  on  the  water.  "  It  is  so  restful, 
so  soothing.     Look  what  a  lovely  sunset  there 


2o8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

must  be  this  evening.  We  can't  see  it  from  this 
side  of  the  house,  but  look  at  the  colour  of  the 
grass  and  the  water." 

''  Ach  —  you  are  a  friend  of  nature,"  said  Frau 
von  Treumann,  turning  her  head  for  a  brief 
moment  towards  the  window,  and  then  examin- 
ing Anna's  face.  "  I  am  also.  There  is  nothing 
I  like  more  than  nature.     Do  you  paint  1  " 

"  I  wish  I  could." 

"  Ah,  then  you  sing  —  or  play  1 " 

"  I  can  do  neither." 

''So?  But  what  have  you  here,  then,  in  the 
way  of  distractions,  of  pastimes  ?  " 

"  I  don't  think  I  have  any,"  said  Anna,  smiling. 
"  I  have  been  very  busy  till  now  making  things 
ready  for  you,  and  after  this  I  shall  just  enjoy 
being  alive." 

Frau  von  Treumann  looked  puzzled  for  a 
moment.     Then  she  said  "  Ach  so'' 

There  was  another  silence. 

"  Have  some  more  coffee,"  said  Anna,  laying 
hold  of  the  pot  persuasively.  She  was  feeling 
foolish,  and  had  blushed  stupidly  after  that 
Ack  so, 

"  No,  no,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann,  putting 
up  a  protesting  hand,  "  you  are  very  kind.  Two 
cups  are  a  limit  beyond  which  voracity  itself 
could  not  go.  What  do  you  say?  You  have 
had  three  ?  Oh,  well,  you  are  young,  and  young 
people  can  play  tricks  with  their  digestions  with 
less  danger  than  old  ones." 

At  this  speech  Fraulein  Kuhrauber's  four  cups 
became  plainly  written  on  her  guilty  face.  The 
thought  that  she  had  been  voracious  at  the  very 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  209 

first  meal  was  appalling  to  her.  She  hastily 
pushed  away  her  half-empty  cup  —  too  hastily, 
for  it  upset,  and  in  her  effort  to  save  it  it  fell  on 
to  the  floor  and  was  broken.  ''  Ach,  Herr  Je  T' 
she  cried  in  her  distress. 

The  other  two  looked  at  each  other;  the  ex- 
pression is  an  unusual  one  on  the  lips  of  gentle- 
women. 

"  Oh,  it  does  not  matter  —  really  it  does  not," 
Anna  hastened  to  assure  her.  "  Don't  pick  it  up 
—  Letty  will.  The  table  is  too  small  really. 
There  is  no  room  on  it  for  anything." 

'' Ja,  eben,''  said  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  greatly 
discomfited. 

"  You  would  like  to  go  upstairs,  I  am  sure," 
said  Anna  hurriedly,  turning  to  the  others.  "  You 
must  be  very  tired,"  she  added,  looking  at  Frau 
von  Treumann. 

"  I  am,"  replied  that  lady,  closing  her  eyes  for 
a  moment  with  a  little  smile  expressive  of  patient 
endurance. 

"  Then  we  will  go  up.  Come,"  she  said,  hold- 
ing out  her  hand  to  Fraulein  Kuhrauber.     "  No, 

no  —  let  Letty  pick  up  the  pieces "for  the 

Fraulein,  in  her  anxiety  to  repair  the  disaster, 
was  about  to  sweep  the  remaining  cups  off  the 
table  with  the  sleeve  of  her  cloak. 

Anna  drew  her  hand  through  her  arm,  and  gave 
it  a  furtive  and  encouraging  stroke.  "  I  will  go 
first  and  show  you  the  way,"  she  said  over  her 
shoulder  to  the  others. 

And  so  it  came  about  that  Frau  von  Treumann 
and  Baroness  Elmreich  actually  found  themselves 
going  through  doors  and  up  stairs  behind  a  per- 


2IO  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

son  called  Kuhrauber.  They  exchanged  glances 
again.  Whatever  might  be  their  private  objec- 
tions to  each  other,  they  had  one  point  already  on 
which  they  agreed,  for  with  equal  heartiness  they 
both  disapproved  of  Fraulein  Kuhrauber. 


CHAPTER   XV 

As  soon  as  Baroness  Elmreich  found    herself 
alone  in  her  bedroom,  she  proceeded  to  examine  its 
contents  with  minute  care.    Supper,  she  had  been 
told,  was  not  till  eight  o'clock,  and  she  had  not 
much  to  unpack ;    so  laying  aside  her  hat  and 
cloak,  and  glancing  at  the  reflection  of  her  little 
curls  in  the  glass  to  see  whether  they  were  as  they 
should  be,  she  began  her  inspection  of  each  sepa- 
rate article  in  her  room,  taking  each  one  up  and 
scrutinising  it,  holding  the  jars  of  hepaticas  high 
above  her  head  in  order  to  see  whether  the  price 
was  marked  underneath,  untidying  the  bed  to  feel 
the  quality  of  the  sheets,  poking  the  mattress  to 
discover  the  nature  of  the  stuffing,  and  investigat- 
ing with  special  attention  the  embroidery  on  the 
pillow-cases.     But  everything  was  as  dainty  and 
as  perfect  as  enthusiasm  could  make  it.    Nowhere, 
with  her  best  endeavours,  could  she  discover  the 
signs  she  was  looking  for  of  cheapness  and  shab- 
biness  in  less  noticeable  things  that  would  have 
helped   her   to   understand    her   hostess.     "  This 
embroidery  has  cost  at  least  two  marks  the  me- 
ter," she  said  to  herself,  fingering  it.     "  She  must 
roll  in  money.    And  the  wall-paper  —  how  unprac- 
tical !     It  is  so  light  that  every  mark  will  be  seen. 
The  flies  alone  will  ruin  it  in  a  month." 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders,  and  smiled  ;  strange 

211 


212  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

to  say,  the  thought  of  Anna's  paper  being  spoiled 
pleased  her. 

Never  had  she  been  in  a  room  the  least  like 
this  one.  If  whitewash  prevailed  downstairs,  and 
in  Anna's  special  haunts,  it  had  not  been  per- 
mitted to  invade  the  bedrooms  of  the  Chosen. 
Anna's  reflections  had  led  her  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  lives  of  these  ladies  had  till  then  probably 
been  spent  in  bare  places,  and  that  they  would 
accordingly  feel  as  much  pleasure  in  the  contem- 
plation of  carpets,  papered  walls,  and  stuffed 
chairs,  as  she  herself  did  in  the  severity  of  her 
whitewashed  rooms  after  the  lavishly  upholstered 
years  of  her  youth.  But  the  daintiness  and  luxury 
only  filled  the  baroness  with  doubts.  She  stood 
in  the  middle  of  it  looking  round  her  when  she 
had  finished  her  tour  of  inspection  and  had  made 
guesses  at  the  price  of  everything,  and  asked  her- 
self who  this  Miss  Estcourt  could  be.  Anna 
would  have  been  considerably  disappointed,  and 
perhaps  even  moved  to  tears,  if  she  had  known 
that  the  room  she  thought  so  pretty  struck  the 
baroness,  whose  taste  in  furniture  had  not  advanced 
beyond  an  appreciation  for  the  dark  and  heavy 
hangings  and  walnut-wood  tables  of  her  more 
prosperous  years,  merely  as  odd.  Odd,  and  very- 
expensive.  Where  did  the  money  come  from  for 
this  reckless  furnishing  with  stuffs  and  colours 
that  were  bound  to  show  each  stain  ?  Her  eye 
wandered  along  the  shelves  above  the  writing- 
table —  hers  was  the  Heine  and  Maeterlinck  room 
—  and  she  wondered  what '  all  the  books  were 
there  for.  She  did  not  touch  them  as  she  had 
touched  everything  else,  for  except  an  occasional 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  213 

novel,  and,  more  regularly,  a  journal  beloved  of 
German  woman  called  the  Gartenlaube,  she  never 

read. 

On  the  writing-table  lay  a  blotter,  a  pretty,  em- 
broidered thing  that  said  as  plainly  as  blotter  could 
say  that  it  had  been  chosen  with  immense  care ; 
and  opening  it  she  found  notepaper  and  envelopes 
stamped  with  the  Kleinwalde  address  and  her  own 
monogram.  This  was  Anna's  little  special  gift,  a 
childish  addition,  the  making  of  which  had  given 
her  an  absurd  amount  of  pleasure.  The  happy 
idea,  as  she  called  it,  had  come  to  her  one  night 
when  she  lay  awake  thinking  about  her  new  friends 
and  going  through  the  familiar  process  of  dis- 
covering their  tastes  by  imagining  herself  in  their 
place.  "  Sonderbar','  was  the  baroness's  com- 
ment; and  she  decided  that  the  best  thing  she 
could  do  would  be  to  ring  the  bell  and  endeavour 
to  obtain  private  information  about  Miss  Estcourt 
by  means  of  a  prolonged  cross-examination  of  the 
housemaid. 

She  rang  it,  and  then  sat  very  straight  and  still 
on  the  sofa  with  her  hands  folded  in  her  lap,  and 
waited.  Her  soul  was  full  of  doubts.  Who  was 
this  Miss,  and  where  were  the  proofs  that  she  was, 
as  she  had  pretended,  of  good  birth  1  That  she 
was  not  so  very  pious  was  evident ;  for  if  she  had 
been,  some  remark  of  a  religious  nature  would 
inevitably  have  been  forthcoming  when  she  first 
welcomed  them  to  her  house.  No  such  word,  not 
the  least  approach  to  any  such  word,  had  been 
audible.  There  had  not  even  been  an  allusion,  a 
sigh,  or  an  upward  glance.  Yet  the  pastor  who 
had  opened  the  correspondence  had  filled  many 


214  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

pages  with  expatiations  on  her  zeal  after  righteous- 
ness. And  then  she  was  so  young.  The  baroness 
had  expected  to  see  an  elderly  person,  or  at  least 
a  person  of  the  age  of  everybody  else,  which  was 
her  own  age ;  but  this  was  a  mere  girl,  and  a  girl, 
too,  who  from  the  way  she  dressed,  clearly  thought 
herself  pretty.  Surely  it  was  strange  that  so  young 
a  woman  should  be  living  here  quite  unattached, 
quite  independent  apparently  of  all  control,  with  a 
great  deal  of  money  at  her  disposal,  and  only  one 
little  girl  to  give  her  a  countenance?  Suppose 
she  were  not  a  proper  person  at  all,  suppose  she 
were  an  outcast  from  society,  a  being  on  whom 
her  own  countrypeople  turned  their  backs  ?  This 
desire  to  share  her  fortune  with  respectable  ladies 
could  only  be  explained  in  two  ways:  either  she 
had  been  moved  thereto  by  an  enthusiastic  piety 
of  which  not  a  trace  had  as  yet  appeared,  or  she 
was  an  improper  person  anxious  to  rebuild  her 
reputation  with  the  aid  and  countenance  of  the 
ladies  of  good  family  she  had  entrapped  into  her 
house. 

The  baroness  stiffened  as  she  sat.  It  was  her 
brother  who  had  cheated  at  cards  and  shot  him- 
self, and  it  was  her  sister  of  whom  Axel  Lohm 
had  heard  strange  tales  ;  and  few  people  are  more 
savagely  proper  than  the  still  respectable  relations 
of  the  demoralised.  "  The  service  in  this  house 
is  very  bad,"  she  said  aloud  and  irascibly,  getting 
up  to  ring  again.  "  No  doubt  she  has  trouble 
with  her  servants." 

But  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door  while  her 
hand  was  on  the  bell,  and  on  her  calling  "  Come 
in,"  instead  of  the  servant  her  hostess  appeared, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  215 

dressed  to  the  baroness's  eye  in  a  truly  amazing 
and  reprehensible  fashion,  and  looking  as  cheer- 
ful as  an  innocent  infant  for  whom  no  such  thing 
as  evil-doing  exists.  Also  she  seemed  quite  un- 
conscious of  her  clothes  and  bare  neck,  nor  did 
she  offer  to  explain  why  she  was  arrayed  as  though 
she  were  going  to  a  ball ;  and  she  stood  a  moment 
in  the  doorway  trying  to  say  something  in  German 
and  pretending  to  laugh  at  her  own  ineffectual 
efforts,  but  really  laughing,  the  baroness  felt  sure, 
in  order  to  show  that  she  had  dimples  ;  which 
were  not,  after  all,  very  wonderful  things  to  have 
—  before  she  had  grown  so  thin  she  almost  had 
one  herself. 

"May  I  come  in?"  said  Anna  at  last,  giving 
up  the  other  and  more  complicated  speech. 

"  Bitted'  said  the  baroness,  with  the  smile  the 
French  call  pince. 

"  Has  no  one  been  to  unpack  your  things.? " 

"  I  rang." 

"  And  no  one  came  ?  Oh,  I  shall  scold  Marie. 
It  is  the  only  thing  I  can  do  well  in  German. 
Can  you  speak  English  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Nor  understand  it }  " 

"  No." 

"  French  ? " 

"  No." 

"  Oh,  well,  you  must  be  patient  then  with  my 
bad  German.  When  I  am  alone  with  anyone  it 
goes  better,  but  if  there  are  many  people  listening 
I  am  nervous  and  can  hardly  speak  at  all.  How 
glad  I  am  that  you  are  here ! " 

Anna's  shyness,  now  that  she  was  by  herself 


2i6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

with  one  of  her  forlorn  ones,  had  vanished,  and 
she  prattled  happily  for  some  time,  putting  as 
many  mistakes  into  her  sentences  as  they  would 
hold,  before  she  became  aware  that  the  baroness's 
replies  were  monosyllabic,  and  that  she  was  exam- 
ining her  from  head  to  foot  with  so  much  atten- 
tion that  there  was  obviously  none  left  over  for 
the  appreciation  of  her  remarks. 

This  made  her  feel  shy  again.  Clothes  to  her 
were  such  secondary  considerations,  things  of  so 
little  importance.  Susie  had  provided  them,  and 
she  had  put  them  on,  and  there  it  had  ended ;  and 
when  she  found  that  it  was  her  dress  and  not  her- 
self that  was  interesting  the  baroness,  she  longed 
to  have  the  courage  to  say,  "  Don't  waste  time  over 
it  now —  I'll  send  it  to  your  room  to-night,  if  you 
like,  and  you  can  look  at  it  comfortably  —  only 
don't  waste  time  now.  I  want  to  talk  to  you,  to 
you  who  have  suffered  so  much ;  I  want  to  make 
friends  with  you  quickly,  to  make  you  begin  to  be 
happy  quickly ;  so  don't  let  us  waste  the  precious 
time  thinking  of  clothes."  But  she  had  neither 
sufficient  courage  nor  sufficient  German. 

She  put  out  her  hand  rather  timidly,  and  mak- 
ing an  effort  to  bring  her  companion's  thoughts 
back  to  the  things  that  mattered,  said,  "  I  hope 
you  will  like  living  with  me.  I  hope  we  shall  be 
very  happy  together.  I  can't  tell  you  how  happy 
it  makes  me  to  think  that  you  are  safely  here,  and 
that  you  are  going  to  stay  with  me  always." 

The  baroness's  hands  were  clasped  in  front  of 
her,  and  they  did  not  unclasp  to  meet  Anna's; 
but  at  this  speech  she  left  off  eyeing  the  dress, 
and   began    to   ask   questions.     "  You   are   very 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  217 

lonely,  I  can  see,"  she  said  with  another  of  the 
pinched  smiles.  "  Have  you  then  no  relations  ? 
No  one  of  your  own  family  who  will  live  with 
you  ?  Will  not  your  Frau  Mama  come  to  Ger- 
many ?  " 

"  My  mother  is  dead." 

"  Ach  —  mine  also.     And  the  Herr  Papa  ?  " 

"  He  is  dead." 

'''Ach  —  mine  also." 

"  I  know,  I  know,"  said  Anna,  stroking  the  un- 
responsive hands  —  a  trick  of  hers  when  she 
wanted  to  comfort  that  had  often  irritated  Susie. 
"  You  told  me  how  lonely  you  were  in  your  letters. 
I  lived  with  my  brother  and  his  wdfe  till  I  came 
here.  You  have  no  brothers  or  sisters,  I  think 
you  wrote." 

"None,"  said  the  baroness  with  a  rigid  look. 

"  Well,  I  am  going  to  be  your  sister,  if  you  will 
let  me." 

"  You  are  very  good." 

"Oh,  I  am  not  good,  only  so  happy —  I  have 
everything  in  the  world  that  I  have  ever  wished 
to  have,  and  now  that  you  have  come  to  share  it 
all  there  is  nothing  more  I  can  think  of  that  I 
want." 

''  AcJ^  said  the  baroness.  Then  she  added, 
"  Have  you  no  aunts,  or  cousins,  who  would  come 
and  stay  with  you  '^.  " 

"  Oh,  heaps.  But  they  are  all  w^ell  off  and 
quite  pleased,  and  they  w^ouldn't  like  staying  here 
with  me  at  all." 

"  They  would  not  like  staying  with  you  .f*  How 
strange." 

"  Very  strange,"  laughed  Anna.    "  You  see  they 


2i8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

don't  know  how  pleasant  I  can  be  in  my  own 
house." 

"  And  your  friends  —  they  too  will  not  come  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  if  they  would  or  not.  I  didn't 
ask  them." 

"  You  have  no  one,  no  one  at  all  who  would 
come  and  live  with  you  so  that  you  should  not  be 
so  lonely  ?  " 

"  But  I  am  not  lonely,"  said  Anna,  looking 
down  at  the  little  woman  with  a  slightly  amused 
expression,  "  and  I  don't  in  the  least  want  to  be 
lived  with." 

"  Then  why  do  you  wish  to  fill  your  house  with 
strangers  ?  " 

"  Why }  "  repeated  Anna,  a  puzzled  look  com- 
ing into  her  eyes.  Had  not  the  correspondence 
with  the  ultimately  chosen  been  long  ?  And  were 
not  all  her  reasons  duly  set  forth  therein  ?  "  Why, 
because  I  want  you  to  have  some  of  my  nice 
things  too." 

"  But  not  your  own  friends  and  relations  ?  " 

"  They  have  everything  they  want." 

There  was  a  silence.  Anna  left  off  stroking  the 
baroness's  hands.  She  was  thinking  that  this  was 
a  queer  little  person  —  outside,  that  is.  Inside,  of 
course,  she  was  very  different,  poor  little  lonely 
thing  ;  but  her  outer  crust  seemed  thick;  and  she 
wondered  how  long  it  would  take  her  to  get 
through  it  to  the  soul  that  she  was  sure  was  sweet 
and  lovable.  She  was  also  unable  to  repress  a 
conviction  that  most  people  would  call  these  ques- 
tions rude. 

But  this  train  of  thought  was  not  one  to  be  en- 
couraged.    "  I  am  keeping  you  here  talking,"  she 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  219 

said,  resuming  her  first  cheerfulness,  "  and  your 
things  are  not  unpacked  yet.  I  shall  go  and  scold 
Marie  for  not  coming  when  you  rang,  and  I'll  send 
her  to  you."  And  she  went  out  quickly,  vexed 
with  herself  for  feeling  chilled,  and  left  the  baron- 
ess more  full  of  doubts  than  ever. 

When  she  had  rebuked  Marie,  who  looked 
gloomy,  she  tapped  at  Frau  von  Treumann's  door. 
No  one  answered.  She  knocked  again.  No  one 
answered.  Then  she  opened  the  door  softly  and 
looked  in. 

These  were  precious  moments,  she  felt,  these 
first  moments  of  being  alone  with  each  of  her  new 
friends,  precious  opportunities  for  breaking  ice. 
It  is  true  she  had  not  been  able  to  break  much  of 
the  ice  encasing  the  baroness,  but  she  was  deter- 
mined not  to  be  cast  down  by  any  of  the  little 
difficulties  she  was  sure  to  encounter  at  first,  and 
she  looked  into  Frau  von  Treumann's  room  with 
fresh  hope  in  her  heart. 

What,  then,  was  her  dismay  to  find  that  lady 
walking  up  and  down  with  the  long  strides  of 
extreme  excitement,  her  face  bathed  in  tears. 

"  Oh  —  what's  the  matter  ?  "  gasped  Anna,  shut- 
ting the  door  quickly  and  hurrying  in. 

Frau  von  Treumann  had  not  heard  the  gentle 
taps,  and  when  she  saw  her,  started,  and  tried  to 
hide  her  face  in  her  handkerchief. 

"  Tell  me  what  is  the  matter,"  begged  Anna, 
her  voice  full  of  tenderness. 

"  Nichts,  nichtsl'  was  the  hasty  reply.  "  I  did 
not  hear  you  knock " 

"  Tell  me  what  is  the  matter,"  begged  Anna 
again,  fairly  putting  her  arms  round  the  poor  lady. 


220  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Our  letters  have  said  so  much  already —  surely 
there  is  nothing  you  cannot  tell  me  now  ?  And 
if  I  can  help  you " 

Frau  von  Treumann  freed  herself  by  a  hasty 
movement,  and  began  to  walk  up  and  down  again. 
"  No,  no,  you  can  do  nothing  —  you  can  do  noth- 
ing," she  said,  and  wept  as  she  walked. 

Anna  watched  her  in  consternation. 

"  See  to  what  I  have  come  —  see  to  what  I  have 
come ! "  said  the  agitated  lady  under  her  breath 
but  with  passionate  intensity,  as  she  passed  and 
repassed  her  dismayed  hostess ;  "  oh,  to  have  fallen 
so  low  !    oh,  to  have  fallen  so  low !  " 

"  So  low  ?  "  echoed  Anna,  greatly  concerned. 

"At  my  age  —  I,  a  Treumann  —  I,  a  geborene 
Graiin  Ilmas-Kadenstein  —  to  live  on  charity — 
to  be  a  member  of  a  charitable  institution !  " 

"Institution?  Charity?  Oh  no,  no !"  cried 
Anna.  "  It  is  a  home  here,  and  there  is  no 
charity  in  it  from  the  attic  to  the  cellar."  And 
she  went  towards  her  with  outstretched  hands. 

"  A  home !  Yes,  that  is  it,"  cried  Frau  von 
Treumann,  waving  her  back,  "it  is  a  home,  a 
charitable  home ! " 

"  No,  not  a  home  like  that  —  a  real  home,  my 
home,  your  home  —  ein  Heim','  Anna  protested; 
but  vainly,  because  the  German  word  Heim  and 
the  English  word  "  home  "  have  litUe  meaning  in 
common. 

''Ein  Heim,  ei7t  Heim''  repeated  Frau  von 
Treumann  with  extraordinary  bitterness,  ''ein 
Frauenheim  — yes,  that  is  what  it  is,  and  everybody 
knows  it." 

"  Everybody  knows  it  ?  " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  221 

"  How  could  I  think,"  she  said,  wringing  her 
hands,  "  how  could  I  think  when  I  decided  to 
come  here  that  the  whole  world  was  to  be  made 
acquainted  with  your  plans  ?  I  thought  they 
were  to  be  kept  private,  that  the  world  was  to 
think  we  were  your  friends " 

"  And  so  you  are." 

"  —  your  guests " 

"  Oh,  more  than  guests  —  this  is  home." 
Home!     Home!      Always    that    word 


And  she  burst  into  a  fresh  torrent  of  tears. 

Anna  stood  helpless.  What  she  said  appeared 
only  to  aggravate  Frau  von  Treumann's  sorrow 
and  rage  —  for  surely  there  was  anger  as  well  as 
sorrow?  She  was  at  a  complete  loss  for  the  rea- 
son of  this  outburst.  Had  not  every  detail  been 
discussed  in  the  correspondence  ?  Had  not  that 
correspondence  been  exhaustive  even  to  boredom  ? 

"  You  have  told  your  servants " 

"  My  servants  ?  " 

"  You  have  told  them  that  we  are  objects  of 
charity " 

"  I "  began  Anna,  and  then  was  silent. 

"  It  is  not  true  —  I  have  come  here  from  very 
different  motives  —  but  they  think  me  an  object 
of  charity.  I  rang  the  bell  —  I  cannot  unstrap 
my  trunks  —  I  never  have  been  expected  to  un- 
strap trunks."  The  sobs  here  interfered  for  a 
moment  with  further  speech.  "After  a  long 
while  —  your  servant  came  —  she  was  insolent  — 
the  trunks  are  there  still  unstrapped — you  see 
them  —  she  knows  —  ever)^thing." 

"  She  shall  go  to-morrow." 

"  The  others  think  the  same  thing." 


222  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  They  shall  go  to-morrow  —  that  is,  have  they 
been  rude  to  you  ?  " 

"  Not  yet,  but  they  will  be." 

"  When  they  are,  they  shall  go." 

"  I  went  into  the  corridor  to  seek  other  assist- 
ance, and  I  met  —  I  met " 

"  Who  ?  " 

"  Oh,  to  have  fallen  so  low ! "  cried  Frau  von 
Treumann,  clasping  her  hands,  and  raising  her 
streaming  eyes  to  the  ceiling. 

"  But  who  did  you  meet  ?  " 

"  I  met  —  I  met  the  Penheim." 

"  The  Penheim  ?  Do  you  mean  Princess 
Ludwig  ? " 

"  You  never  said  she  was  here " 

"  I  did  not  know  that  it  would  interest  you." 

"  —  living  on  charity  —  she  was  always  shame- 
less —  I  was  at  school  with  her.  Oh,  I  would 
not  have  come  for  any  inducement  if  I  had  known 
she  was  here !  She  holds  nothing  sacred,  she 
will  boast  of  her  own  degradation,  she  will  write 
to  all  her  friends  that  I  am  here  too  —  I  told  them 
I  was  coming  only  on  a  visit  to  you  —  they  knew 
I    knew   your    uncle  —  but   the    Penheim  —  the 

Penheim "  and  Frau   von  Treumann  threw 

herself  into  a  chair  and  covered  her  face  with  her 
hands  to  shut  out  the  horrid  vision. 

The  corners  of  Anna's  mouth  began  to  take  the 
upward  direction  that  would  end  in  a  smile ;  and 
feeling  how  ill-placed  such  a  contortion  would 
be  in  the  presence  of  this  tumultuous  grief,  she 
brought  them  carefully  back  to  a  position  of  proper 
solemnity.  Besides,  why  should  she  smile  ?  The 
poor  lady  was  clearly  desperately  unhappy  about 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  223 

something,  though  what  it  was  Anna  did  not  quite 
know.  She  had  looked  forward  to  this  first  even- 
ing with  her  new  friends  as  to  a  thing  apart,  a 
thing  beyond  the  ordinary  experience  of  life,  pro- 
found in  its  peace,  perfect  in  its  harmony,  the  first 
taste  of  rest  after  war,  of  port  after  stormy  seas ; 
and  here  was  Frau  von  Treumann  plunged  in  a 
very  audible  grief,  and  in  the  next  room  was  the 
baroness,  a  disconcerting  combination  of  inquisi- 
tiveness  and  ice,  and  farther  down  the  passage 
was  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  —  in  what  state,  Anna 
wondered,  would  she  find  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  ? 
Anyhow  she  had  little  reason  to  smile.  But  the 
horror  with  which  Princess  Ludwig  had  been 
mentioned  seemed  droll  beside  her  own  knowledge 
of  the  sterling  qualities  of  that  excellent  woman. 
She  went  over  to  the  chair  in  which  Frau  von 
Treumann  lay  prostrate,  and  sat  down  beside  her. 
She  was  glad  that  they  had  reached  the  stage  of 
sitting  down,  for  talking  is  difficult  to  a  person 
who  will  not  keep  still. 

"  How  sorry  I  am,"  she  said,  in  her  pretty,  hesi- 
tating German,  "  that  you  should  have  been  made 
unhappy  the  very  first  evening.  Marie  is  a  little 
wretch.  Don't  let  her  stupidity  make  you  miser- 
able. You  shall  not  see  her  again,  I  promise  you." 
And  she  patted  Frau  von  Treumann's  arm.  "  But 
about  Princess  Ludwig,  now,"  she  went  on  cheer- 
fully, "she  has  been  here  some  weeks  and  you 
soon  learn  to  know  a  person  you  are  with  every 
day,  and  really  I  have  found  her  nothing  but  good 
and  kind." 

"  Ach,  she  is  shameless  —  she  recoils  before  no 
degradation  !  "  burst  out  Frau  von  Treumann,  sud- 


224  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

denly  removing  her  hands  from  her  face.  "  The 
trouble  she  has  given  her  relations  !  She  delights 
in  dragging  her  name  in  the  dirt.  She  has  tried 
to  get  places  in  the  most  impossible  families,  and 
made  no  attempt  to  hide  what  she  was  doing.  She 
has  broken  the  old  Fiirst's  heart.  And  she  talks 
about  it  all,  and  has  no  shame,  no  decency " 

"  But  is  it  not  admirable "  began  Anna. 

"  She  will  gloat  over  me,  and  tell  everyone  that 
I  am  here  in  the  same  way  as  she  is.  If  she  is  not 
ashamed  for  herself,  do  you  think  she  will  spare 
me? 

"  But  why  should  you  think  there  is  anything  to 
be  ashamed  of  in  coming  to  live  with  me  and  be 
my  dear  friend  ?  " 

"  No,  there  is  nothing,  so  long  as  my  motives  in 
coming  are  known.  But  people  talk  so  cruelly, 
and  will  distort  the  facts  so  gladly,  and  we  have 
always  held  our  heads  so  high.  And  now  the 
Penheim  !  "     She  sobbed  afresh. 

"  I  shall  ask  the  princess  not  to  write  to  anyone 
about  your  being  here." 

"  AcA,  I  know  her  —  she  will  do  it  all  the  same." 

"  No,  I  don't  think  so.  She  does  everything  I 
ask.  You  see,  she  takes  care  of  my  house  for  me. 
She  is  not  here  in  the  same  way  that  —  that  you 
and  Baroness  Elmreich  are,  and  her  interest  is  to 
stay  here." 

Frau  von  Treumann's  bowed  head  went  up  with 
a  jerk.  "  Ac/i  1  She  has  found  a  place  at  last } 
She  is  your  paid  companion  ?    Your  housekeeper? " 

"  Yes,  and  she  is  goodness  itself,  and  I  don't 
believe  she  would  be  unkind  and  make  mischief 
for  worlds." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  225 

"  Ach  so ! "  said  Frau  von  Treumann,  "  ach 
^0-0-0-0  / "  —  a  long  drawn  out  so  of  complete 
comprehension.  Her  tears  ceased  as  if  by  magic. 
She  dried  her  eyes.  Yes,  of  course  the  Penheim 
would  hold  her  tongue  if  Miss  Estcourt  ordered 
her  to  do  so.  She  had  heard  all  about  her  efforts 
to  find  places,  and  she  would  probably  be  very 
careful  not  to  lose  this  one.  The  poor  Penheim. 
So  she  was  actually  working  for  wages.  What  a 
come-down  for  a  Dettingen  !  And  the  Dettin- 
gens  had  always  treated  the  Treumanns  as  though 
they  belonged  merely  to  the  kleiiie  Adel.  Well, 
w^ell,  each  one  in  turn.  She  was  the  dear  friend, 
and  the  Penheim  was  the  housekeeper.  Well, 
well. 

She  sat  up  straight,  smoothed  her  hair,  and 
resumed  her  first  manner  of  quiet  dignity.  "  I 
am  sorry  that  you  should  have  witnessed  my 
agitation,"  she  said,  with  a  faint  smile.  "  I  am  not 
easily  betrayed  into  exhibitions  of  feeling,  but 
there  are  limits  to  one's  endurance,  there  are 
certain  things  the  bravest  cannot  bear." 

"  Yes,"  said  Anna. 

"  And  for  a  Treumann,  social  disgrace,  any 
action  that  in  the  least  soils  our  honour  and  makes 
us  unable  to  hold  up  our  heads,  is  worse  than 
death." 

"  But  I  don't  see  any  disgrace." 

"  No,  no,  there  is  none  so  long  as  facts  are  not 
distorted.  It  is  quite  simple  —  you  need  friends 
and  I  am  willing  to  be  your  friend.  That  was  how 
my  son  looked  at  it.  He  said  '  Liebe  Mama,  she 
evidently  needs  friends  and  sympathy  —  w^hy 
should   you    hesitate  to   make    yourself   of   use } 

Q 


226  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

You  must  regard  it  as  a  good  work.'  You  would 
like  my  son ;  his  brother  officers  adore  him." 

"  Really  ?  "  said  Anna. 

"  He  is  so  sensible,  so  reasonable  ;  he  is  beloved 
and  respected  by  the  whole  regiment.  I  will  show 
you  his  photograph  —  ac/i,  the  trunks  are  still 
unstrapped." 

"  I'll  go  and  send  someone  —  but  not  Marie," 
said  Anna,  getting  up  quickly.  She  had  no 
desire  to  see  the  photograph,  and  the  son's  way 
of  looking  at  things  had  considerably  astonished 
her.  "  It  must  be  nearly  supper  time.  Would 
you  not  rather  lie  down  and  let  me  send  you 
something  here?  Your  head  must  ache  after 
crying  so  much.  You  have  baptised  our  new  life 
with  tears.     I  hope  it  is  a  good  omen." 

"  Oh,  I  will  come  down.  You  will  do  as  you 
promised,  will  you  not,  and  forbid  the  Penheim 
to  gossip  ?  " 

"  I  shall  tell  the  princess  your  wishes." 

"  Or,  if  she  must  gossip,  let  her  tell  the  truth 
at  least.  If  my  son  had  not  pressed  me  to  come 
here  I  really  do  not  think " 

Anna  went  slowly  and  meditatively  down  the 
passage  to  Fraulein  Kuhrauber's  room.  For  a 
moment  she  thought  of  omitting  this  last  visit 
altogether  ;  she  was  afraid  lest  the  Fraulein  should 
be  in  some  unlooked-for  and  perplexing  condition 
of  mind.  Discouraged  ?  Oh  no ;  she  was  surely 
not  discouraged  already.  How  had  the  word 
come  into  her  head }  She  quickened  her  steps. 
When  she  reached  the  door  she  remembered  the 
cup  and  the  sugar-tongs.  Perhaps  something  in 
the  bedroom  was  already  broken,  and  the  Fraulein 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  227 

would  be  disclosed  sitting  in  the  ruins  in  tears, 
for  she  was  unexpectedly  large,  and  the  contents 
of  her  room  were  frail.  But  then  woe  of  that 
sort  was  as  easily  assuaged  as  broken  furniture 
was  mended.  It  was  the  more  complicated  grief 
of  Frau  von  Treumann  that  she  felt  unable  to 
soothe.  As  to  that,  she  preferred  not  to  think 
about  it  at  present,  and  barricaded  her  thoughts 
against  its  image  with  that  consoling  sentence. 
Tout  comprendre  cest  tout  pardonjter.  It  was  a 
sentence  she  was  fond  of;  but  she  had  not  ex- 
pected that  she  would  need  its  reassurance  so 
soon. 

She  opened  the  door,  and  the  puckers  smoothed 
themselves  out  of  her  forehead  at  once,  for  here,  at 
last,  was  peace.  There  had  been  no  difficulties 
here  with  bells,  and  straps,  and  Marie.  The 
trunks  had  been  opened  and  unpacked  without 
assistance ;  and  when  Anna  came  in  the  con- 
tents were  all  put  away  and  Fraulein  Kuhrauber, 
washed  and  combed  and  in  her  Sunday  blouse, 
was  sitting  in  an  easy  chair  by  the  window  ab- 
sorbed in  a  book.  Satisfaction  was  written  broadly 
on  her  face ;  content  was  expressed  by  every  lazy 
line  of  her  attitude.  When  she  saw  Anna,  she 
got  up  and  made  a  curtsey  and  beamed.  The 
beams  were  instantly  reflected  in  Anna's  face, 
and  they  beamed  at  each  other. 

"Well,"  said  Anna,  who  felt  perfectly  at  her 
ease  with  this  member  of  her  trio,  "are  you 
happy  ?  " 

Fraulein  Kuhrauber  blushed,  and  beamed  more 
than  ever.  She  was  far  less  shy  of  Anna  than 
she  was  of  those  two  terrible  adelige  Damen,  her 


228  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

travelling  companions ;  but  at  no  time  had  she 
had  much  conversation.  Hers  had  been  a  rumi- 
native existence,  for  its  uncertainty  but  rarely 
disturbed  her.  Had  she  not  an  excellent  diges- 
tion, and  a  fixed  belief  that  the  righteous,  of 
whom  she  was  one,  would  never  be  forsaken  ? 
And  are  not  these  the  primary  conditions  of 
happiness  ?  Indeed,  if  everything  else  is  wanting, 
these  two  ingredients  by  themselves  are  sufficient 
for  the  concoction  of  a  very  palatable  life. 

"  You  have  found  an  interesting  book  already.?  " 
Anna  asked,  pleased  that  the  literature  chosen 
with  such  care  should  have  met  with  instant 
appreciation.  She  took  it  up  to  see  what  it  was, 
but  put  it  down  again  hastily,  for  it  was  the 
cookery  book. 

"  I  read  much,"  observed  Fraulein  Kuhrauber. 

"  Yes  ?  "  said  Anna,  a  flicker  of  hope  reviving 
in  her  heart.  Perhaps  the  cookery  book  was  an 
accident. 

"  I  know  by  heart  more  than  a  hundred  recipes 
for  sweet  dishes  alone." 

"  Really  ?  "  said  Anna,  the  flicker  expiring. 

"  So  you  can  have  an  idea  of  the  number  of 
books  I  have  read." 

"  Here  are  a  great  many  more  for  you  to  read." 

"  Ack  ja,  acfi  ja','  said  Fraulein  Kuhrauber, 
glancing  doubtfully  at  the  shelves;  "but  one 
must  not  waste  too  much  time  over  it  —  there 
are  other  things  in  life.  I  read  only  useful 
books." 

"Well,  that  is  very  praiseworthy,"  said  Anna, 
smiling.  "  If  you  Uke  cookery  books,  I  must  get 
you  some  more." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  229 

"  How  good  you  are  —  how  very,  very  good  !  " 
said  the  Fraulein,  gazing  at  the  charming  figure 
before  her  with  heartfelt  admiration  and  grati- 
tude. "This  beautiful  room — I  cannot  look  at 
it  enough.  I  cannot  believe  it  is  really  for  me  — 
for  me  to  sleep  in  and  be  in  whenever  I  choose. 
What  have  I  done  to  deserve  all  this  ? " 

What  had  she  done,  indeed  ?  She  had  not 
even  been  unhappy,  although  of  course  she  had 
had  every  opportunity  of  being  so,  sent  from 
place  to  place,  from  one  indignant  Hausfrau  to 
another,  ever  since  she  left  school.  But  Anna, 
persuaded  that  she  had  rescued  her  from  depths 
of  unspeakable  despair,  was  overjoyed  by  this 
speech.  "  Don't  talk  about  deserving,"  she  said 
tenderly.  "  You  have  had  such  a  life  that  if  you 
were  to  be  happy  now  without  stopping  once  for 
the  next  fifty  years  it  would  only  be  just  and 
right." 

Fraulein  Kuhrauber's  approval  of  this  senti- 
ment was  so  entire  that  she  seized  Anna's  hand 
and  kissed  it  fervently.  Anna  laughed  while  this 
was  going  on,  and  her  eyes  grew  brighter.  She 
had  not  wanted  gratitude,  but  now  that  it  had 
come  it  was  very  encouraging  after  all,  and  ver}^ 
warming.  She  put  one  arm  impulsively  round 
the  Fraulein's  neck  and  kissed  her,  and  this  was 
practically  the  first  kiss  that  lady  had  ever  re- 
ceived, for  the  perfunctory^  embraces  of  reluc- 
tantly dutiful  aunts  can  hardly  be  called  by  that 
pretty  name. 

"  Now,"  said  Anna,  with  a  happy  laugh,  "  we 
are  going  to  be  friends  for  ever.  Come,  let  us  go 
down.     That  was  the  supper  bell." 


230  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

And  they  went  downstairs  together,  appearing 
in  the  doorway  of  the  drawing-room  arm  in  arm, 
as  though  they  had  loved  each  other  for  years. 

"As  though  they  were  twins,"  muttered  the 
baroness  to  Frau  von  Treumann,  who  shrugged 
one  shoulder  slightly  by  way  of  reply. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

But  in  spite  of  this  little  outburst  of  gratitude 
and  appreciation  from  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  the 
first  evening  of  the  new  life  was  a  disappointment. 
The  Fraulein,  who  entered  the  room  so  happily 
under  the  impression  of  that  recent  kiss,  became 
awkward  and  uncomfortable  the  moment  she 
caught  sight  of  the  others  ;  lapsing,  indeed,  into  a 
quite  pitiful  state  of  nervous  flutter  on  being 
brought  for  the  first  time  within  the  range  of  the 
princess's  critical  and  unsympathetic  eye.  Her 
experience  had  not  included  princesses,  and,  as 
she  made  a  series  of  agitated  curtseys,  deeming 
one  altogether  insufficient  for  so  great  a  lady,  she 
felt  as  though  that  cold  eye  were  piercing  her 
through  easily,  and  had  already  discovered  the 
inmost  recess  of  her  soul,  where  lay,  so  carefully 
hidden,  the  memory  of  the  postman.  Every  time 
the  princess  looked  at  her,  a  sudden  vivid  con- 
sciousness of  the  postman  flamed  up  within  her, 
utterly  refusing  to  be  extinguished  by  the  sooth- 
ing recollection  that  he  had  been  angelic  for 
thirty  years.  That  obviously  experienced  eye  and 
those  pursed  lips  upset  her  so  completely  that 
she  made  no  remark  whatever  during  the  meal 
that  followed,  but  sat  next  to  Anna  and  ate  Leber- 
wurst  in  a  kind  of  uneasy  dream ;  and  she  ate  it 
with  a  degree  of  emphasis  so  unusual  among  the 
polite  and  so  disastrous  to  the  peace  of  the  ultra- 

231 


232  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

fastidious  that  Anna  felt  there  really  was  some 
slight  excuse  for  the  frequent  and  lengthy  stares 
that  came  from  the  other  end  of  the  table.  "  Yet 
she  is  an  immortal  soul  —  what  does  it  matter 
how  she  eats  Leberwurst?''  said  Anna  to  herself. 
*'  What  do  such  trifles,  such  little  mannerisms, 
really  matter?  I  should  indeed  be  a  miserable 
creature  if  I  let  them  annoy  me."  But  she  turned 
her  head  away,  nevertheless,  and  talked  assidu- 
ously to  Letty. 

There  was  no  one  else  for  her  to  talk  to.  Frau 
von  Treumann  and  the  baroness  had  seated  them- 
selves at  once  one  on  either  side  of  the  princess, 
and  devoted  their  conversation  entirely  to  her. 
In  the  drawing-room  later  on,  the  same  thing 
happened,  —  the  three  German  ladies  clustering 
together  near  the  sofa,  and  the  three  English 
being  left  somehow  to  themselves,  except  for 
Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  who  clung  to  them.  To 
avoid  this  division  into  what  looked  like  hostile 
camps  Anna  pushed  her  chair  to  a  place  midway 
between  the  groups,  and  tried  to  join,  though  not 
very  successfully,  in  the  talk  of  each  in  turn. 
Outward  calm  prevailed  in  the  room,  subdued 
voices,  the  tranquillity  of  fancy-work,  and  the 
peace  of  albums;  yet  Anna  could  not  avoid  a 
chilled  impression,  a  feeling  as  though  each  per- 
son present  were  distrustful  of  the  others,  and 
more  or  less  on  the  defensive.  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann, it  is  true,  was  graciousness  itself  to  the 
princess,  conversing  with  her  constantly  and  ami- 
ably, and  showing  herself  kind ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  princess  was  hardly  gracious  to  Frau 
von   Treumann.     An   unbiassed   observer  would 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  233 

have  said  that  she  disapproved  of  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann,  but  was  endeavouring  to  conceal  her  dis- 
approval. She  busied  herself  with  her  embroid- 
ery and  talked  as  little  as  she  could,  receiving 
both  the  advances  of  Frau  von  Treumann  and 
the  attentions  of  the  baroness  with  equal  coldness. 
As  for  the  baroness,  her  doubts  as  to  Anna's 
respectability  were  blown  away  completely  and 
forever  when,  on  opening  the  drawing-room  door 
before  supper,  she  had  beheld  no  less  a  person 
than  the  geborene  Dettingen  seated  on  the  sofa. 
The  baroness  had  spent  her  life  in  a  remote  and 
tiny  provincial  town,  but  she  knew  the  great  Det- 
tingen and  Penheim  families  well  by  name,  and  a 
princess  in  her  opinion  was  a  princess,  an  alto- 
gether precious  and  admirable  creature,  whatever 
she  might  choose  to  do.  Her  scruples,  then,  were 
set  at  rest,  but  her  ice  as  far  as  Anna  was  con- 
cerned showed  no  signs  of  thawing.  All  her 
amiability  and  her  efforts  to  produce  a  good  im- 
pression were  lavished  on  the  princess,  who  besides 
being  by  birth  and  marriage  the  grandest  person 
the  baroness  had  yet  met,  spoke  her  own  tongue 
properly,  had  no  dimples,  and  did  not  try  to  stroke 
her  hand.  She  looked  on  with  mingled  awe  and 
irritation  at  the  easy  manner  in  which  Frau  von 
Treumann  treated  this  great  lady.  It  almost 
seemed  as  though  she  were  patronising  her. 
Really  these  Treumanns  were  a  brazen-faced 
race ;  audacious  East  Prussian  Junkers,  who 
thought  themselves  as  good  as  or  better  than  the 
best.  And  this  one  was  not  even  a  true  Treu- 
mann, but  an  Ilmas,  and  of  the  inferior  Kaden- 
stein  branch;  and  the  baroness's  brother  —  that 


234  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

brother  whose  end  was  so  abrupt  —  had  been 
quartered  once  during  the  manoeuvres  at  Kaden- 
stein,  and  had  told  her  that  it  was  a  wretched 
place,  with  a  fowl-run  that  wanted  mending 
within  a  few  yards  of  the  front  door,  and  that, 
the  door  standing  open  all  day  long,  he  had  fre- 
quently met  fowls  walking  about  in  the  hall  and 
passages.  Yet  remembering  the  brother's  story, 
and  how  there  was  no  shadow  of  the  sort  resting 
at  present  on  Frau  von  Treumann,  though  as  she 
had  a  son  there  was  no  telling  how  long  her  shad- 
owless state  would  last,  she  tried  to  ingratiate  her- 
self with  that  lady,  who  met  her  advances  coolly, 
only  warming  into  something  like  responsiveness 
when  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  was  in  question. 

Fraulein  Kuhrauber  sat  behind  Letty  and  Miss 
Leech,  as  far  away  from  the  others  as  she  could. 
She  had  a  stocking  in  her  hand,  but  she  did  not 
knit.  She  never  knitted  if  she  could  avoid  it,  and 
was  conscious  that  from  want  of  practice  her 
needles  moved  more  slowly  than  is  usual  —  so 
slowly,  indeed,  as  to  be  conspicuous.  Letty 
showed  her  photographs  and  was  very  kind  to  her, 
instinctively  perceiving  that  here  was  someone 
who  was  as  uneasy  under  the  tall  lady's  stares  as 
she  was  herself.  She  privately  thought  her  by  far 
the  best  of  the  new  arrivals,  and  wished  she  knew 
enough  German  to  inquire  into  her  views  respect- 
ing Schiller ;  there  was  something  in  the  Fraulein's 
looks  and  manner  that  made  her  think  they  would 
agree  about  Schiller. 

Anna,  too,  ended  by  talking  exclusively  to  this 
group.  Her  attempts  to  join  in  what  the  others 
were  saying  had  been  unsuccessful ;  and  with  a 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  235 

little  twinge  of  disappointment,  and  a  feeling  of 
being  for  some  unexplained  reason  curiously  out 
of  it,  she  turned  to  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  and  de- 
voted herself  more  and  more  to  her. 

"  They  are  inseparables  already,"  remarked  the 
baroness  in  a  low  voice  to  Frau  von  Treumann. 
"  The  Miss  finds  her  congenial,  it  seems."  She 
could  not  forgive  those  doors  she  had  gone 
through  last. 

The  princess  looked  up  for  a  moment  over  the 
spectacles  she  wore  when  she  worked,  at  Anna. 

"  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  makes  an  excellent  foil," 
said  Frau  von  Treumann.  "  Miss  Estcourt  looks 
quite  ethereal  next  to  her." 

"  Do  you  think  her  pretty  ?  "  asked  the  baroness. 

"  She  is  very  distinguished-looking." 

A  servant  came  in  at  that  moment  and  an- 
nounced Dellwig's  usual  evening  visit,  and  Anna 
got  up  and  went  out.  They  watched  her  as  she 
walked  down  the  long  room,  and  when  she  had 
disappeared  began  to  discuss  her  more  at  their 
ease,  their  rapid  German  being  quite  incompre- 
hensible to  Letty  and  Miss  Leech. 

"  Where  has  she  gone  }  "  asked  the  baroness. 

"  She  has  gone  to  talk  to  her  inspector,"  said 
the  princess. 

"  AcA  so''  said  the  baroness. 

"  Ac/i  so,''  said  Frau  von  Treumann. 

"  Is  the  inspector  young  ?  "  asked  the  baroness. 

"  Oh  no,  quite  old,"  said  the  princess. 

"  These  English  are  a  strange  race,"  said  Frau 
von  Treumann.  "  What  German  girl  of  that  age 
would  you  find  with  so  much  energy  and  enter- 
prise  r 


236  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Is  she  SO  very  young  ?  "  inquired  the  baroness, 
with  a  look  of  mild  surprise. 

"  Why,  she  is  plainly  little  more  than  a  child," 
said  Frau  von  Treumann. 

"  She  is  twenty-five,"  said  the  princess. 

"  Rather  an  old  child,"  observed  the  baroness. 

"  She  looks  much  younger.  But  twenty-five  is 
surely  young  enough  for  this  life,  away  from  her 
own  people,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann. 

"Yes  —  why  does  she  lead  it?"  asked  the  baron- 
ess eagerly.  "  Can  you  tell  us,  Frau  Prinzessin  ? 
Has  she  then  quarrelled  with  all  her  friends  } " 

"  Miss  Estcourt  has  not  told  me  so." 

"  But  she  must  have  quarrelled.  Eccentric  as 
the  English  are,  there  are  limits  to  their  eccen- 
tricity, and  no  one  leaves  home  and  friends  and 
country  without  some  good  reason."  And  Frau 
von  Treumann  shook  her  head. 

"  She  has  quarrelled,  I  am  sure,"  said  the 
baroness. 

"  I  think  so  too,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann ;  "  I 
thought  so  from  the  first.  My  son  also  thought 
so.     You  remember  Karlchen,  princess  ?  " 

"  Perfectly." 

"  I  discussed  the  question  thoroughly  with  him, 
of  course,  as  to  whether  I  should  come  here  or  not. 
I  confess  I  did  not  want  to  come.  It  was  a  great 
wrench,  giving  up  everything,  and  going  so  far 
from  my  son.  But  after  all  one  must  not  be  self- 
ish."   And  Frau  von  Treumann  sighed  and  paused. 

No  one  said  anything,  so  she  continued :  "  One 
feels,  as  one  grows  older,  how  great  are  the  claims 
of  others.  And  a  widow  with  only  one  son  can 
do  so  much,  can   make  herself  of  so  much  use. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  237 

That  is  what  Karlchen  said.  When  I  hesitated  — 
for  I  fear  one  does  hesitate  before  inconvenience 
—  he  said,  '  Liebste  Mama,  it  would  be  a  charity 
to  go  to  the  poor  young  lady.  You  who  have  al- 
ways been  the  first  to  extend  a  sympathetic  hand 
to  the  friendless,  how  is  it  that  you  hesitate  now } 
Depend  upon  it,  she  has  had  differences  at  home 
and  needs  countenance  and  help.  You  have  no 
encumbrances.  You  can  go  more  easily  than 
others.  You  must  regard  it  as  a  good  work.' 
And  that  decided  me." 

The  princess  let  her  work  drop  for  a  moment 
into  her  lap,  and  gazed  over  her  spectacles  at  Frau 
von  Treumann.  "  Wirklichr'  she  said  in  a  voice 
of  deep  interest.  "  Those  were  your  reasons  ? 
Aber  herrlichr 

"  Yes,  those  were  my  reasons,"  replied  Frau  von 
Treumann,  returning  her  gaze  with  pensive  but 
steady  eyes.  "  Those  were  my  chief  reasons.  I 
regard  it  as  a  work  of  charity." 

"  But  this  is  noble,"  murmured  the  princess, 
resuming  her  work. 

"  That  is  how  /  have  regarded  it,"  put  in  the 
baroness.  "  I  agree  with  you  entirely,  dear  Frau 
von  Treumann." 

"  I  do  not  pretend  to  disguise,"  went  on  Frau 
von  Treumann,  "  that  it  is  an  economy  for  me  to 
live  here,  but  poor  as  I  have  been  since  my  dear 
husband's  death — you  remember  Karl,  princess  ? " 

"  Perfectly." 

"  Poor  as  I  have  been,  I  always  had  sufficient 
for  my  simple  wants,  and  should  not  have  dreamed 
of  altering  my  life  if  Miss  Estcourt's  letters  had 
not  been  so  appealing." 


238  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Ach  —  they  were  appealing  ?  " 

"  Oh,  a  heart  of  stone  would  have  been  melted 
by  them.  And  a  widow's  heart  is  not  of  stone,  as 
you  must  know  yourself.  The  orphan  appealing 
to  the  widow  —  it  was  irresistible." 

"  Well,  you  see  she  is  not  by  any  means  alone," 
said  the  princess  cheerfully.  "  Here  we  are,  five 
of  us  counting  the  little  Letty,  surrounding  her. 
So  you  must  not  sacrifice  yourself  unnecessarily." 

"  Oh,  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  having  put 
their  hand  to  the  plough " 

"  But  where  is  the  plough,  dear  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann  ?     You  see  there  is,  after  all,  no  plough." 

"  Dear  princess,  you  always  were  so  literal." 

"  Ah,  you  used  to  reproach  me  with  that  in  the 
old  days,  when  you  wrote  poetry  and  read  it  to 
me  and  I  was  rude  enough  to  ask  if  it  meant 
anything.  We  did  not  think  then  that  we  should 
meet  here,  did  we }  " 

"  No,  indeed.  And  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much 
I  admire  your  courage." 

"  My  courage  ?  What  fine  qualities  you  invest 
me  with ! " 

"  Miss  Estcourt  has  told  me  how  admirably  you 
discharge  your  duties  here.  It  is  wonderful  to  me. 
You  are  an  example  to  us  all,  and  you  make  me 
feel  ashamed  of  my  own  uselessness." 

"  Oh,  you  underrate  yourself.  People  who 
leave  everything  to  go  and  help  others  cannot 
talk  of  being  useless.  Yes,  I  look  after  her  house 
for  her,  and  I  hope  to  look  after  her  as  well." 

"  After  her  ?  Is  that  one  of  your  duties  ?  Did 
she  stipulate  for  personal  supervision  when  she 
engaged  you  ?     How  times  are  changed !     When 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  239 

my  Karl  was  alive,  and  we  lived  at  Sommershof, 
I  certainly  would  not  have  tolerated  that  my 
housekeeper  should  keep  me  in  order  as  well  as 
my  house." 

"  The  case  was  surely  different,  dear  Frau  von 
Treumann.  Here  is  an  unusually  pretty  young 
thing,  with  money.  She  will  need  all  the  protec- 
tion I  can  give  her,  and  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  me 
to  feel  that  I  am  here  and  able  to  give  it." 

"  But  she  may  any  day  turn  round  and  request 
you  to  go." 

"  That  of  course  may  happen,  but  I  hope  it  will 
not  until  she  is  safe." 

"  But  do  you  think  her  so  pretty  ? "  put  in  the 
baroness  wonderingly. 

"Safe.?  What  special  dangers  do  you  then 
apprehend  for  her  ?  "  asked  Frau  von  Treumann 
with  a  look  of  amusement.  "  Dear  princess,  you 
always  did  take  your  duties  so  seriously.  What 
a  treasure  you  would  have  been  to  me  in  many 
ways.  It  is  admirable.  But  do  your  duties  really 
include  watching  over  Miss  Estcourt's  heart  ? 
For  I  suppose  you  are  thinking  of  her  heart  ?"^ 

"  I  am  thinking  of  adventurers,"  said  the  prin- 
cess. "  Any  young  man  with  no  money  would 
naturally  be  delighted  to  secure  this  young  lady 
and  Kleinwalde.  And  those  who  instead  of 
money  have  debts,  would  naturally  be  still  more 
delighted."  And  the  princess  in  her  turn  gazed 
pensively  but  steadily  at  Frau  von  Treumann. 
"  No,"  she  said,  taking  up  her  work  again,  "  I  was 
not  thinking  of  her  heart,  but  of  the  annoyance 
she  might  be  put  to.  I  do  not  fancy  that  her 
heart  would  easily  be  touched." 


240  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna  came  in  at  that  moment  for  a  paper  she 
wanted,  and  heard  the  last  words.  "  What,"  she 
said,  smihng,  as  she  unlocked  the  drawer  of  her 
writing-table  and  rummaged  among  the  contents, 
"you  are  talking  about  hearts?  You  see  it  is 
true  that  women  can't  be  together  half  an  hour 
without  getting  on  to  subjects  like  that.  If  you 
were  three  men,  now,  you  would  talk  of  pigs." 
Then,  a  sudden  recollection  of  Uncle  Joachim 
coming  into  her  mind,  she  added  with  conviction, 
"  And  pigs  are  better." 

Nor  was  it  till  she  had  closed  the  door  behind 
her  that  it  struck  her  that  when  she  came  into  the 
room  both  the  princess  and  Frau  von  Treumann 
were  looking  preternatu rally  bland. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

Axel  Lohm  was  in  the  hall,  having  his  coat 
taken  from  him  by  a  servant. 

"  You  here  ?  "  exclaimed  Anna,  holding  out  both 
hands.  She  was  more  than  usually  pleased  to  see 
him. 

"  Manske  had  a  pile  of  letters  for  you,  and  could 
not  get  them  to  you  because  he  has  a  pastors'  con- 
ference at  his  house.  I  was  there  and  saw  the 
letters,  and  thought  you  might  want  them." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  want  them  —  at  least,  there  is  no 
hurry.  But  the  letters  are  only  an  excuse.  Now 
isn't  it  so  ?  " 

"  An  excuse  ?  "  he  repeated,  flushing. 

"  You  want  to  see  the  new  arrivals." 

"  Not  in  the  very  least." 

"  Oh,  oh  !  But  as  you  have  come  one  minute 
too  soon,  and  happened  to  meet  me  outside  the 
door,  your  plan  is  spoilt.  Are  those  the  letters  ? 
What  a  pile  !  "     Her  face  fell. 

"  But  you  are  looking  for  nine  more  ladies. 
You  want  a  wide  choice.  You  have  still  the 
greater  part  of  your  work  before  you." 

"  I  know.     Why  do  you  tell  me  that  ?  " 

"  Because  you  do  not  seem  pleased  to  get 
them." 

"  Oh  yes,  I  am ;  but  I  am  tired  to-night,  and 
the  idea  of  nine  more  ladies  makes  me  feel  — 
feel  sleepy." 

R  241 


242  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

She  stood  under  the  lamp,  holding  the  packet 
loosely  by  its  string  and  smiling  up  to  him.  There 
were  shadows  in  her  eyes,  he  thought,  where  he 
was  used  to  seeing  two  cheerful  little  lights  shin- 
ing, and  a  faint  ruefulness  in  the  smile. 

"  Well,  if  you  are  tired  you  must  go  to  bed,"  he 
said,  in  such  a  matter  of  fact  tone  that  they  both 
laughed. 

"  No,  I  mustn't,"  said  Anna;  "  I  am  on  my  way 
to  Herr  Dellwig  at  this  very  moment.  He's  in 
there,"  she  said,  with  a  motion  of  her  head  towards 
the  dining-room  door.  "  Tell  me,"  she  added, 
lowering  her  voice,  "  have  you  got  a  brick-kiln  at 
Lohm  ? " 

"A  brick-kiln?  No.  Why  do  you  want  to 
know? " 

"  But  why  haven't  you  got  a  brick-kiln  ?  " 

"  Because  there  is  nothing  to  make  bricks  with. 
Lohm  is  almost  entirely  sand." 

"  He  says  there  is  splendid  clay  here  in  one 
part,  and  wants  to  build  one." 

"  Who  ?     Dellwig  ?  " 

"Sh  — sh." 

"  Your  uncle  would  have  built  one  long  ago  if 
there  really  had  been  clay.  I  must  look  at  the 
place  he  means.  I  cannot  remember  any  such 
place.  And  it  is  unlikely  that  it  should  be  as  he 
says.  Pray  do  not  agree  to  any  propositions  of 
the  kind  hastily." 

"  It  would  cost  heaps  to  set  it  going,  wouldn't 
it?" 

"  Yes,  and  probably  bring  in  nothing  at  all." 

"  But  he  tries  to  make  out  that  it  would  be  quite 
cheap.     He  says  the  timber  could  all  be  got  out 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  243 

of  the  forest.     I  can't  bear  the  thought  of  cutting 
down  a  lot  of  trees." 

"  If  you  can't  bear  the  thought  of  anything  he 
proposes,  then  simply  refuse  to  consider  it." 

"  But  he  talks  and  talks  till  it  really  seems  that 
he  is  right.  He  told  me  just  now  that  it  would 
double  the  value  of  the  estate." 

"  I  don't  believe  it." 

"  If  I  made  bricks,  according  to  him  I  could 
take  in  twice  as  many  poor  ladies." 

"  I  believe  you  will  be  happier  with  fewer  ladies 
and  no  bricks,"  said  Axel  with  great  positiveness. 

Anna  stood  thinking.  Her  eyes  were  fixed  on 
the  tip  of  the  finger  she  had  passed  through  the 
loop  of  string  that  tied  the  letters  together,  and 
she  watched  it  as  the  packet  twisted  round  and 
round  and  pinched  it  redder  and  redder.  "  I  sup- 
pose you  never  vranted  to  be  a  woman,"  she  said, 
considering  this  phenomenon  with  apparent  in- 
terest. 

Axel  laughed. 

"  The  mere  question  makes  you  laugh,"  she 
said,  looking  up  quickly.  "  I  never  heard  of  a 
man  who  did  want  to.  But  lots  of  women  would 
give  anything  to  be  men." 

"  And  you  are  one  of  them  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

He  laughed  again. 

"  You  think  I  would  make  a  queer  little  man  ? " 
she  said,  laughing  too  ;  but  her  face  became  sober 
immediately,  and  with  a  glance  at  the  shut  dining- 
room  door  she  continued:  "  It  is  so  horrid  to  feel 
weak.  My  sister  Susie  says  I  am  very  obstinate. 
Perhaps  I  was  with  her,  but  different  people  have 


244  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

different  effects  on  one."  She  sank  her  voice  to 
a  whisper,  and  looked  at  him  anxiously.  "  You 
can't  think  what  an  effort  it  is  to  me  to  say  No  to 
that  man." 

"What,  to  Dellwig.?" 

"Sh— sh." 

"  But  if  that  is  how  you  feel,  my  dear  Miss  Est- 
court,  it  is  very  evident  that  the  man  must  go." 

"  How  easy  it  is  to  say  that !  Pray,  who  is  to 
tell  him  to  go  ?  " 

"  I  will,  if  you  wish." 

"  If  you  were  a  woman,  do  you  suppose  you 
would  be  able  to  turn  out  an  old  servant  who  has 
worked  here  so  many  years  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  am  sure  I  would,  if  I  felt  that  he  was 
getting  beyond  my  control." 

"  No,  you  wouldn't.  All  sorts  of  things  would 
stop  you.  You  would  remember  that  your  uncle 
specially  told  you  to  keep  him  on,  that  he  has  been 
here  ages,  that  he  was  faithful  and  devoted " 

"  I  do  not  believe  there  was  much  devotion." 

"  Oh  yes,  there  was.  The  first  evening  he  cried 
about  dear  Uncle  Joachim." 

"  He  cried  ?  "  repeated  Axel  incredulously. 

"  He  did  indeed." 

"  It  was  about  something  else,  then." 

"  No,  he  really  cried  about  Uncle  Joachim.  He 
really  loved  him." 

Axel  looked  profoundly  unconvinced. 

"  But  after  all  those  are  not  the  real  reasons," 
said  Anna ;  "  they  ought  to  be,  but  they're  not. 
The  simple  truth  is  that  I  am  a  coward,  and  I  am 
frightened  —  dreadfully  frightened  —  of  possible 
scenes."     And  she  looked  at  him   and   laughed 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  245 

ruefully.  "  There  —  you  see  what  it  Is  to  be  a 
woman.  If  I  were  a  man,  how  easy  things  would 
be.  Please  consider  the  mortification  of  knowing 
that  if  he  persuades  long  enough  I  shall  give  in, 
against  my  better  judgment.  He  has  the  strong- 
est will  I  think  I  ever  came  across." 

"  But  you  have  not  yet  given  in,  I  hope,  on 
any  point  of  importance  ? " 

"  Up  to  now  I  have  managed  to  say  No  to 
everything  I  don't  want  to  do.  But  you  would 
laugh  if  you  knew  what  those  Nos  cost  me. 
Why  cannot  the  place  go  on  as  it  was  ?  I  am 
perfectly  satisfied.  But  hardly  a  day  passes  with- 
out some  wonderful  new  plan  being  laid  before 
me,  and  he  talks  —  oh,  how  he  talks  !  I  believe 
he  would  convince  even  you." 

"  The  man  is  quite  beyond  your  control,"  said 
Axel  in  a  voice  of  anger;  and  voices  of  anger 
commonly  being  loud  voices,  this  one  produced 
the  effect  of  three  doors  being  simultaneously 
opened :  the  door  leading  to  the  servants'  quar- 
ters, through  which  Marie  looked  and  vanished 
again,  retreating  to  the  kitchen  to  talk  propheti- 
cally of  weddings ;  the  dining-room  door,  behind 
which  Dellwig  had  grown  more  and  more  impa- 
tient at  being  kept  waiting  so  long;  and  the 
drawing-room  door,  on  the  other  side  of  which 
the  baroness  had  been  lingering  for  some  mo- 
ments, desiring  to  go  upstairs  for  her  scissors,  but 
hesitating  to  interrupt  Anna's  business  with  the 
inspector,  whose  voice  she  thought  it  was  that 
she  heard. 

The  baroness  shut  her  door  again  immediately. 
''A/ia  —  the  admirer!  "she  said  to  herself;  and 


246  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

went  back  quickly  to  her  seat.  "  The  Miss  is 
talking  to  2iju7ige  Herr^'  she  announced,  her  eyes 
wider  open  than  ever. 

"  A  junge  Herr  ?  "  echoed  Frau  von  Treumann. 
"  I  thought  the  inspector  was  old }  " 

"  It  must  be  Axel  Lohm,"  said  the  princess,  not 
raising  her  eyes  from  her  work.  "  He  often 
comes  in." 

"  He  comes  courting,  evidently,"  said  the  baron- 
ess with  a  sub-acid  smile. 

"  It  has  not  been  evident  to  me,"  said  the 
princess  coldly. 

"  I  thought  it  looked  like  it,"  said  the  baroness, 
with  more  meekness. 

"  Is  that  the  Lohm  who  was  engaged  to  one  of 
the  Kiederfels  girls  some  years  ago  '^.  "  asked  Frau 
von  Treumann. 

"  Yes,  and  she  died." 

"  But  did  he  not  marry  soon  afterwards  ?  I 
heard  he  married." 

"  That  was  the  second  brother.  This  one  is 
the  eldest,  and  lives  next  to  us,  and  is  single." 

Frau  von  Treumann  was  silent  for  a  moment. 
Then  she  said  blandly,  "  Now  confess,  princess, 
that  he  is  the  perilous  person  from  whom  you 
think  it  necessary  to  defend  Miss  Estcourt." 

"  Oh  no,"  said  the  princess  with  equal  bland- 
ness ;  "  I  have  no  fears  about  him." 

"  What,  is  he  too  possessed  of  an  invulnerable 
heart  ?  " 

"  I  know  nothing  of  his  heart.  I  said,  I  believe, 
adventurers.  And  no  one  could  call  Axel  Lohm 
an  adventurer.  I  was  thinking  of  men  who  have 
run  through  all  their  own  and  all  their  relations' 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  347 

money  in  betting  and  gambling,  and  who  want  a 
wife  who  will  pay  their  debts." 

"  Ach  so,''  said  Frau  von  Treumann  with  per- 
fect urbanity.  And  if  this  talk  about  protecting 
Miss  Estcourt  from  adventurers  in  a  place  where 
there  w^ere  apparently  no  human  beings  of  any 
kind,  but  only  trees  and  marshes,  might  seem  to 
a  bystander  to  be  foolishness,  to  the  speakers  it 
was  luminousness  itself,  and  in  no  way  increased 
their  love  for  each  other. 

Meanwhile  Dellwig,  looking  through  the  door 
and  seeing  Lohm,  brought  his  heels  together  and 
bowed  with  his  customary  exaggeration.  "  I  beg  a 
thousand  times  pardon,"  he  said ;  "  I  thought  the 
gracious  Miss  was  engaged  and  would  not  return, 
and  I  was  about  to  go  home." 

"  I  have  found  the  paper,  and  am  coming,"  said 
Anna  coldly.  "  Well,  good-night,"  she  added  in 
English,  holding  out  her  hand  to  Axel. 

"  If  you  will  allow  me,  I  should  like  to  pay  my 
respects  to  Princess  Ludwig  before  I  go,"  he  said, 
thinking  thus  to  see  her  later. 

"  Ah  !  wasn't  I  right  ?  "  she  said,  smiling.  "  You 
are  determined  to  look  at  the  new  arrivals.  How 
can  a  man  be  so  inquisitive  ?  But  I  will  say 
good-night  all  the  same.  I  shall  be  ages  with 
Herr  Dellwig,  and  shall  not  see  you  again."  She 
shook  hands  with  him,  and  went  into  the  dining- 
room,  Dellwig  standing  aside  with  deep  respect 
to  let  her  pass.  But  she  turned  to  say  something 
to  him  as  he  shut  the  door,  and  Axel  caught  the 
expression  of  her  face,  the  intense  boredom  on  it, 
the  profound  distrust  of  self;  and  he  went  in  to 
the  princess  with  an  unusually  severe  and  deter- 
mined look  on  his  own. 


248  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Dell  wig  went  home  that  night  in  a  savage 
mood.  "  That  young  man,"  he  said  to  his  wife, 
flinging  his  hat  and  coat  on  to  a  chair  and  him- 
self on  to  a  sofa,  "  is  thrusting  himself  more  and 
more  into  our  affairs." 

"  That  Lohm  ?  "  she  asked,  rolling  up  her  work 
preparatory  to  fetching  his  evening  drink. 

"  I  had  almost  got  the  Miss  to  consent  to  the 
brick-kiln.  She  was  quite  reasonable,  and  went 
out  to  get  the  plan  I  had  made.  Then  she  met 
him  —  he  is  always  hanging  about." 

"  And  then  ?  "  inquired  Frau  Dellwig  eagerly. 

"  Pah  —  this  petticoat  government  —  having  to 
beg  and  pray  for  the  smallest  concession  —  it 
makes  an  honest  man  sick." 

"  She  will  not  consent  ?  " 

"  She  came  back  as  obstinate  as  a  mule.  It  all 
had  to  be  gone  into  again  from  the  beginning." 

"  She  will  not  consent  ?  " 

"  She  said  Lohm  would  look  at  the  place  and 
advise  her." 

'' Aber  so  ze;^5 .'"  cried  Frau  Dellwig,  crimson 
with  wrath.  "  Advise  her  ?  Did  you  not  tell  her 
that  you  were  her  adviser  ?  " 

"You  may  be  sure  I  did.  I  told  her  plainly 
enough,  I  fancy,  that  Lohm  had  nothing  to  say 
here,  and  that  her  uncle  had  always  listened  to 
me.  She  sat  without  speaking,  as  she  generally 
does,  not  even  looking  at  me  —  I  never  can  be 
sure  that  she  is  even  listening." 

"  And  then  '^,  " 

"  I  asked  her  at  last  if  she  had  lost  confidence 
in  me." 

"And  then.?" 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  249 

"  She  said  oh  nein,  in  her  affected  foreign  way 
—  in  the  sort  of  voice  that  might  just  as  well 
mean  oh  ja'.'  And  he  imitated,  with  great  bitter- 
ness, Anna's  way  of  speaking  German.  "  Mark 
my  words,  Frau,  she  is  as  weak  as  water  for  all 
her  obstinacy,  and  the  last  person  who  talks  to 
her  can  always  bring  her  round." 

"  Then  you  must  be  the  last  person." 

"  If  it  were  not  for  that  prig  Lohm,  that  inter- 
fering ass,  that  incomparable  rhinoceros " 

"  He  wants  to  marry  her,  of  course." 

"  If  he  marries  her "  Dellwig  stopped  short, 

and  stared  gloomily  at  his  muddy  boots. 

"  If  he  marries  her "  repeated  his  wife  ;  but 

she  too  stopped  short.  They  both  knew  well 
enough  what  would  happen  to  them  if  he  married 
her. 

The  building  of  the  brick-kiln  had  come  to  be 
a  point  of  honour  with  the  Dellwigs.  Ever  since 
Anna's  arrival,  their  friends  the  neighbouring 
farmers  and  inspectors  had  been  congratulating 
them  on  their  complete  emancipation  from  all  man- 
ner of  control ;  for  of  course  a  young  ignorant 
lady  would  leave  the  administration  of  her  estate 
entirely  in  her  inspector's  hands,  confining  her 
activities,  as  became  a  lady  of  birth,  to  paying  the 
bills.  Dellwig  had  not  doubted  that  this  would 
be  so,  and  had  boasted  loudly  and  continually  of 
the  different  plans  he  had  made  and  was  going  to 
carry  out.  The  estate  of  which  he  was  now  prac- 
tically master  was  to  become  renowned  in  the  prov- 
ince for  its  enterprise  and  the  extent,  in  every 
direction,  of  its  operations.  The  brick-kiln  was  a 
long-cherished  scheme.      His   oldest  friend  and 


2  50  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

rival,  the  head  Inspector  of  a  place  on  the  other 
side  of  Stralsund,  had  one,  and  had  constantly 
urged  him  to  have  one  too;  but  old  Joachim,  with- 
out illusions  as  to  the  quality  of  the  clay,  and  by 
no  manner  of  means  to  be  talked  into  disbelieving 
the  evidence  of  his  own  eyes,  would  not  hear  of  it, 
and  Dellwig  felt  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  in 
the  face  of  that  curt  refusal.  The  friend,  triumph- 
ing in  his  own  brick-kiln  and  his  own  more  pliable 
master,  jeered,  dug  him  in  the  ribs  at  the  Sunday 
gatherings,  and  talked  of  dependence,  obedience, 
and  restricted  powers.  Such  friends  are  difficult 
to  endure  with  composure ;  and  Dellwig,  and  still 
less  his  wife,  for  many  months  past  had  hardly  been 
able  to  bear  the  word  "  brick  "  mentioned  in  their 
presence.  When  Anna  appeared  on  the  scene,  so 
young,  so  foreign,  and  so  obviously  foolish,  Dell- 
wig, certain  now  of  success,  told  his  friend  on  the 
very  first  Sunday  night  that  the  brick-kiln  was  now 
a  mere  matter  of  weeks.  Always  a  boaster,  he 
could  not  resist  boasting  a  little  too  soon.  Besides, 
he  felt  very  sure ;  and  the  friend,  too,  had  taken  it 
for  granted,  when  he  heard  of  the  impending  young 
mistress,  that  the  thing  was  as  good  as  built. 

That  was  in  March.  It  was  now  the  end  of 
April,  and  every  Sunday  the  friend  inquired  when 
the  building  was  to  be  begun,  and  every  Sunday 
Dellwig  said  it  would  begin  when  the  days  grew 
longer.  The  days  had  grown  longer,  would  have 
grown  in  a  few  weeks  to  their  longest,  as  the  friend 
repeatedly  pointed  out,  and  still  nothing  had  been 
done.  To  the  many  people  who  do  not  care  what 
their  neighbours  think  of  them,  the  torments  of  the 
two  Dellwigs  because  of  the  unbuilt  brick-kiln  will 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  251 

be  incomprehensible.  Yet  these  torments  were  so 
acute  that  in  the  weaker  moments  immediately 
preceding  meals  they  both  felt  that  it  would  almost 
be  better  to  leave  Kleinwalde  than  to  stay  and  en- 
dure them  ;  indeed,  before  dinner,  or  during  wake- 
ful nights,  Frau  Dellwig  was  convinced  that  it 
would  be  better  to  die  outright.  The  good  opin- 
ion of  their  neighbours  —  more  exactly,  the  envy 
of  their  neighbours — was  to  them  the  very  breath 
of  their  nostrils.  In  their  set  they  must  be  the 
first,  the  undisputedly  luckiest,  cleverest,  and  best 
off.  Any  position  less  mighty  would  be  unbear- 
able. And  since  Anna  came  there  had  been  noth- 
ing but  humihations.  First  the  dinner  to  the 
Manskes,  from  which  they  had  been  excluded  — 
Frau  Dellwig  grew  hot  all  over  at  the  recollection 
of  the  Sunday  gathering  succeeding  it ;  then  the 
renovation  of  the  Schloss  without  the  least  refer- 
ence to  them,  without  the  smallest  asking  for  ad- 
vice or  help ;  then  the  frequent  communications 
with  the  pastor,  putting  him  quite  out  of  his  proper 
position,  the  confidence  placed  in  him,  the  ridicu- 
lous respect  shown  him,  his  connection  with  the 
mad  charitable  scheme ;  and  now,  most  dreadful 
of  all,  this  obstinacy  in  regard  to  the  brick-kiln. 
It  was  becoming  clear  that  they  were  fairly  on  the 
way  to  being  pitied  by  the  neighbours.  Pitied  ! 
Horrid  thought.  The  great  thing  in  life  was  to 
be  so  situated  that  you  can  pity  others.  But  to  be 
pitied  yourself  ?  Oh,  thrice-accursed  folly  of  old 
Joachim,  to  leave  Kleinwalde  to  a  woman !  Frau 
Dellwig  could  not  sleep  that  night  for  hating 
Anna.  She  lay  awake  staring  into  the  darkness 
with  hot  eyes,  and  hating  her  with  a  heartiness 


252 


THE   BENEFACTRESS 


that  would  have  petrified  that  unconscious  young 
woman  as  she  sat  about  a  stone's  throw  off  in  her 
bedroom,  motionless  in  the  chair  into  which  she 
had  dropped  on  first  coming  upstairs,  too  tired 
even  to  undress,  after  her  long  struggle  with  Frau 
Dellwig's  husband.  "  The  EngldnderiJi  will  ruin 
us!"  cried  Frau  Dellwig  suddenly,  unable  to  hate 
in  silence  any  longer. 

"  Wie  ?  Was  ?  "  exclaimed  Dellwig,  who  had 
dozed  off,  and  was  startled. 

"  She  will  —  she  will !  "  cried  his  wife. 

"  Will  what  ?  Ruin  us  ?  The  Eiiglanderin  ? 
Ach  was —  Unsinn.  She  can  be  managed.  It  is 
Lohm  who  is  the  danger.  It  is  Lohm  who  will 
ruin  us.     If  we  could  get  rid  of  him " 

"  Ach  Gott,  if  he  would  die  !  "  exclaimed  Frau 
Dellwig,  with  fervent  hands  raised  heavenwards. 
"  Ach  Gott,  if  he  would  only  die !  " 

"  Ach  Gott,  ach  Gott !  "  mimicked  her  husband 
irritably,  for  he  disliked  being  suddenly  awakened. 
"  People  never  die  when  anything  depends  on  it," 
he  grumbled,  turning  over  on  his  side.  And  he 
cursed  Axel  several  times,  and  went  to  sleep. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

The  philosopher  tells  us  that,  after  the  healing 
interval  of  sleep,  we  are  prepared  to  meet  each 
other  every  morning  as  gods  and  goddesses ;  so 
fresh,  so  strong,  so  lusty,  so  serene,  did  he  con- 
sider the  newly-risen  and  the  some-time  separated 
must  of  necessity  be.  It  is  a  pleasing  belief ;  and 
Experience,  that  hopelessly  prosaic  governess  who 
never  gives  us  any  holidays,  very  quickly  disposes 
of  it.  For  what  is  to  become  of  the  god-like  mood 
if  only  one  in  a  company  possess  it  ?  The  middle- 
aged  and  old,  who  abound  in  all  companies,  are 
seldom  god-like,  and  are  never  so  at  breakfast. 

The  morning  after  the  arrival  of  the  Chosen, 
Anna  woke  up  in  the  true  Olympian  temper. 
She  had  been  brought  back  to  the  happy  world 
of  realities  from  the  happy  world  of  dreams  by 
the  sun  of  an  unusually  lovely  April  shining  on 
her  face.  She  had  only  to  open  her  window  to 
be  convinced  that  all  which  she  beheld  was  full 
of  blessings.  Just  beneath  her  window  on  the 
grass  was  a  double  cherry  tree  in  flower,  an  ex- 
quisite thing  to  look  down  on  with  the  sunshine 
and  the  bees  busy  among  its  blossoms.  The  un- 
reasoning joyfulness  that  invariably  took  posses- 
sion of  her  heart  whenever  the  weather  was  fine, 
filled  it  now  with  a  rapture  of  hope  and  confi- 
dence. This  world,  this  wonderful  morning 
world  that  she  saw  and  smelt  from  her  window, 

253 


254  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

was  manifestly  a  place  in  which  to  be  happy. 
Everything  she  saw  was  very  good.     Even   the 
remembrance  of  Dellwig  was  transfigured  in  that 
clear  light.     And  while  she  dressed  she  took  her- 
self  seriously  to  task  for  the  depression  of    the 
night  before.  ■   Depressed  she  had  certainly  been ; 
and  why  ?     Simply  because  she  was  over-excited 
and  over-tired,  and  her  spirit  was  still  so  mortify- 
ingly  unable  to  rise  superior  to  the  weakness  of 
her  tiresome  flesh.     And  to  let  herself  be  made 
wretched  by  Dellwig,  merely  because  he  talked 
loud    and    had    convictions    which   she   did    not 
share !     The  god-like  morning  mood  was  strong 
upon  her,  and  she  contemplated  her  listless  self 
of  the  previous  evening,  the  self  that  had  sat  so 
long  despondently  thinking  instead  of  going  to 
bed,  with  contempt.     These  evening    interviews 
with  Dellwig,  she  reflected,  were  a  mistake.     He 
came  at  hours  when  she  was  least  able  to  bear  his 
wordiness  and  shouting,  and  it  was  the  knowledge 
of  his  impending  visit  that  made  her  irritable  be- 
forehand and   rufBed  the   absolute  serenity  that 
she  felt  was  alone  appropriate  in  a  house  dedi- 
cated to  love.     But  it  was  not  only  Dellwig  and 
the  brick-kiln  that  had  depressed  her;    she  had 
actually  had  doubts  about  her  three  new  friends, 
doubts  as  to  the  receptivity  of  their  souls,  as  to 
the  capacity  of  their  souls  for  returning  love.     At 
one  awful  moment  she  had  even  doubted  whether 
they  had  souls  at  all,  but  had  hastily  blown  out 
the  candle  at  this  point,  extinguishing  the  doubt 
at  the  same  time,  smothering  it  beneath  the  bed- 
clothes, and  falling  asleep  at  once,  after  the  fash- 
ion of  healthy  young  people. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  255 

Now,  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  day,  with  all 
her  misgivings  healed  by  sleep,  she  thought 
calmly  over  the  interview  she  had  had  with  Frau 
von  Treumann  before  supper;  for  it  was  that 
interview  that  had  been  the  chief  cause  of  her 
dejection.  Frau  von  Treumann  had  told  her  an 
untruth,  a  quite  obvious  and  absurd  untruth  in 
the  face  of  the  correspondence,  as  to  the  reason 
of  her  coming  to  Kleinwalde.  She  had  said  she 
had  only  come  at  the  instigation  of  her  son,  who 
looked  upon  Anna  as  a  deserving  object  of  help. 
And  Anna  had  been  hurt,  had  been  made  misera- 
ble, by  the  paltriness  of  this  fib.  Her  great  desire 
was  to  reach  her  friends'  souls  quickly,  to  attain 
the  beautiful  intimacy  in  which  the  smallest  fiction 
is  unnecessary ;  and  so  little  did  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann understand  her,  that  she  had  begun  a  friend- 
ship that  was  to  be  for  life  with  an  untruth  that 
would  not  have  misled  a  child.  But  see  the  effect 
of  sleep  and  a  gracious  April  morning.  The  very 
shabbiness  and  paltriness  of  the  fib  made  Anna's 
heart  yearn  over  the  poor  lady.  Surely  the  pride 
that  tried  to  hide  its  wounds  with  rags  of  such 
pitiful  flimsiness  was  profoundly  pathetic  ?  With 
such  pride,  all  false  from  Anna's  point  of  view, 
but  real  and  painful  enough  to  its  possessor,  the 
necessity  that  drove  her  to  accept  Anna's  offer 
must  have  been  more  cruel  than  necessity,  always 
cruel,  generally  is.  Her  heart  yearned  over  her 
friend  as  she  dressed,  and  she  felt  that  the  weak- 
ness that  must  lie  was  a  weakness  greatly  requir- 
ing love.  For  nobody,  she  argued,  would  ever 
lie  unless  driven  to  it  by  fear  of  some  suffering. 
If,  then,  it  made  her  happy,  and  made  her  life 


256  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

easier,  let  her  think  that  Anna  beUeved  she  had 
come  for  her  sake.  What  did  it  matter  ?  No  one 
was  perfect,  and  many  people  were  surprisingly 
pathetic. 

Meanwhile  the  day  was  glorious,  and  she  went 
downstairs  with  the  springy  step  of  hope.  She  was 
thinking  exhilarating  thoughts,  thinking  that  there 
were  to  be  no  ripples  of  misgivings  and  misunder- 
standings on  the  clear  surface  of  this  first  morn- 
ing. They  would  all  look  into  each  others'  candid 
eyes  at  breakfast,  and  read  a  mutual  conscious- 
ness of  interests  henceforward  to  be  shared,  of 
happiness  to  be  shared,  of  life  to  be  shared,  — 
the  life  of  devoted  and  tender  sisters. 

The  hall  door  stood  open,  and  the  house  was 
full  of  the  smell  of  April ;  the  smell  of  new  leaves 
budding,  of  old  leaves  rotting,  of  damp  earth,  pine 
needles,  wet  moss,  and  marshes.  "  Oh,  the  lovely, 
lovely  morning ! "  whispered  Anna,  running  out 
on  to  the  steps  with  outstretched  arms  and  up- 
turned face,  as  though  she  would  have  clasped  all 
the  beauty  round  and  held  it  close.  She  drew  in 
a  long  breath,  and  turned  back  into  the  house 
singing  in  an  impassioned  but  half-suppressed 
voice  the  first  verse  of  the  Magnificat.  The  door 
leading  to  the  kitchen  opened,  and  to  her  surprise 
Baroness  Elmreich  emerged  from  those  dark  re- 
gions. The  Magnificat  broke  off  abruptly.  Anna 
was  surprised.  Why  the  kitchen  ?  The  baroness 
saw  her  hostess's  figure  motionless  against  the 
light  of  the  open  door;  but  the  light  behind  was 
strong  and  the  hall  was  dark,  and  she  thought 
it  was  Anna's  back.  Hoping  that  she  had  not 
been  noticed    she  softly  closed   the   door  again 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  257 

and    waited    behind    it  till  she  could   come    out 
unseen. 

Anna  supposed  that  the  princess  must  be  show- 
ing her  the  servants'  quarters,  and  went  into  the 
breakfast  room ;  but  in  it  sat  the  princess,  making 
coffee. 

"  There  you  are,"  said  the  princess  heartily. 
"  That  is  nice.  Now  we  can  drink  our  coffee 
comfortably  together  before  the  others  come 
down.  Have  you  been  out  ?  You  smell  of  fresh 
air. 

"  Only  a  moment  on  the  doorstep." 

"  Come,  sit  next  to  me.  You  have  slept  well,  I 
can  see.  Notice  the  advantage  of  coming  straight 
in  to  breakfast,  and  not  running  about  the  forest 
—  you  get  here  first,  and  so  get  the  best  cup  of 
coffee." 

"  But  it  isn't  proper  for  me  to  have  the  best," 
said  Anna,  smiHng  as  she  took  the  cup,  "  when  I 
have  guests  here." 

"  Yes,  it  is  —  very  proper  indeed.  Besides,  you 
told  me  they  were  sisters." 

"  So  they  are.  Has  the  baroness  not  been 
here  ? " 

"  No,  she  is  still  in  bed." 

"  No,  I  saw  her  a  moment  ago.  I  thought  you 
were  with  her." 

"  Oh,  my  dear  —  so  early  in  the  morning !  "  pro- 
tested the  princess.  "When  did  I  see  her  last. ^ 
Less  than  nine  hours  ago.  She  followed  me  into 
my  bedroom  and  talked  much.  I  could  not  begin 
again  with  her  the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  even 
to  please  you."  And  she  looked  at  Anna  very 
affectionately.     "  You  were  tired  last  night,  were 


258  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

you  not  ? "  she  continued.  "  Axel  Lohm  stayed  so 
late,  I  think  he  wanted  to  speak  to  you.  But  you 
went  straight  up  to  bed." 

"  I  had  seen  him  before  he  went  in  to  you.  He 
didn't  want  to  speak  to  me.  He  was  consumed 
by  curiosity  about  our  new  friends." 

"  Was  he  ?  He  did  not  show  much  interest  in 
them.  He  talked  to  me  nearly  all  the  time.  He 
thought  for  a  moment  that  he  knew  the  baroness 
—  at  least,  he  stared  at  her  at  first  and  seemed 
surprised.  But  it  turned  out  that  she  was  only 
like  someone  he  knew.  She  had  evidently  never 
seen  him  before.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to 
talk  to  that  young  man,"  the  princess  went  on, 
while  Anna  ate  her  toast. 

"  So  it  is  to  me,"  said  Anna. 

"  I  have  met  many  people  in  my  life,  and  have 
often  wondered  at  the  dearth  of  nice  ones — ^^how 
few  there  are  that  one  likes  to  be  with  and  wishes 
to  see  again  and  again.  Axel  is  one  of  the  few, 
decidedly." 

"  So  he  is,"  agreed  Anna. 

"  There  is  goodness  written  on  every  line  of  his 

face." 

"  Oh,  he  has  the  kindest  face.  And  so  strong. 
I  feel  that  if  anything  happened  here,  anything 
dreadful,  that  he  would  make  it  right  again  at 
once.  He  would  mend  us  if  we  got  smashed,  and 
build  us  up  again  if  we  got  burned,  and  protect 
us,  this  houseful  of  lone  women,  if  ever  anybody 
tried  to  run  away  with  us."  And  Anna  nodded 
reassuringly  at  the  princess,  and  took  another  piece 
of  toast.  "  That  is  how  I  feel  about  him,"  she 
said.     "So   agreeably   certain,    not   only   of   his 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  259 

willingness  to  help,  but  of  his  power  to  do  it." 
Talking  about  Axel  she  quite  forgot  the  appari- 
tion of  the  baroness  that  she  had  just  seen.  He 
was  so  kind,  so  good,  so  strong.  How  much  she 
admired  strength  of  purpose,  independence,  the 
character  that  was  determined  to  find  its  happi- 
ness in  doing  its  best. 

"  If  I  had  a  daughter,"  said  the  princess,  filling 
Anna's  cup,  "  she  should  marry  Axel  Lohm." 

"  If  /  had  a  daughter,"  said  Anna,  "  she  should 
marry  him,  so  yours  couldn't.  I  wouldn't  even 
ask  her  if  she  liked  it.  I'd  be  so  sure  that  it  was 
a  good  thing  for  her  that  I'd  just  say :  '  My  dear,  I 
have  chosen  my  son-in-law.  Get  your  hat,  and 
come  to  church  and  marry  him.'  And  there'd  be 
an  end  of  thatT 

The  princess  felt  that  it  was  an  unprofitable 
employment,  trying  to  help  on  Axel's  cause.  She 
could  not  but  see  what  he  thought  of  Anna ;  and 
after  the  touching  manner  of  widows,  was  con- 
vinced of  the  superiority  of  marriage,  as  a  means 
of  real  happiness  for  a  woman,  over  any  and  every 
other  form  of  occupation.  Yet  whenever  she 
talked  of  him  she  was  met  by  the  same  hearty 
agreement  and  frank  enthusiasm,  the  very  words 
being  taken  out  of  her  mouth  and  her  own 
praises  of  him  doubled  and  trebled.  It  was  a 
promising  friendship,  but  it  was  a  singularly  un- 
promising prelude  to  love. 

"  Please  make  some  fresh  coffee,"  begged  Anna ; 
"the  others  will  be  coming  down  soon,  and  must 
not  have  cold  stuff."  Her  voice  grew  tender  at 
the  mere  mention  of "  the  others."  For  the  princess 
and  Axel,  both  of  whom  she  liked  so  much,  it 


26o  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

never  took  on  those  tender  tones,  as  the  princess 
had  already  noted.  There  was  nothing  in  either 
of  them  to  appeal  to  that  side  of  her  nature,  the 
tender,  mother  side,  which  is  in  all  good  women 
and  most  bad  ones.  They  were  her  friends, 
staunch  friends,  she  felt,  and  of  course  she  liked 
and  respected  them ;  but  they  were  sturdy,  capa- 
ble people,  firmly  planted  on  their  own  feet,  able 
to  battle  successfully  with  life  —  as  different  as 
possible  from  these  helpless  ones  who  needed  her, 
whom  she  had  saved,  to  whom  she  was  everything, 
between  whom  and  want  and  sorrow  she  was  fixed 
as  a  shield. 

Two  of  the  helpless  ones  came  in  at  that  mo- 
ment, with  frosty,  early-morning  faces.  Anna  put 
the  vision  she  had  seen  at  the  kitchen  door  from 
her  mind,  and  went  to  meet  them  with  happy 
smiles  and  greetings.  Frau  von  Treumann  did 
her  best  to  respond  warmly,  but  it  was  very  early 
to  be  enthusiastic,  and  at  that  hour  of  the  day  she 
was  accustomed  to  being  a  little  cross.  Besides, 
she  had  had  no  coffee  yet,  and  her  hostess  evi- 
dently had,  and  that  made  a  great  difference  to 
one's  sentiments.  The  baroness  looked  pinched 
and  bloodless;  she  was  as  frigid  as  ever  to  Anna, 
said  nothing  about  having  seen  her  before,  and 
seemed  to  want  to  be  left  alone.  So  that  the 
mutual  gazing  into  each  other's  eyes  did  not,  after 
all,  take  place. 

The  princess  waited  to  see  that  they  had  all 
they  wanted,  and  then  went  out  rattling  her  keys ; 
and  after  an  interval,  during  which  Anna  chat- 
tered cheerful  and  ungrammatical  German,  and 
the  window  was  shut,  and  warming  food  eaten, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  261 

Frau  von  Treumann  became  amiable  and  began 
to  talk. 

She  drew  from  her  pocket  a  letter  and  a  photo- 
graph. "  This  is  my  son,"  she  said.  "  I  brought 
it  down  to  show  you.  And  I  have  had  a  long 
letter  from  him  already.  He  never  neglects  his 
mother.     Truly  a  good  son  is  a  source  of  joy." 

"  I  suppose  so,"  said  Anna. 

The  baroness  turned  her  eyes  slowly  round  and 
fixed  them  on  the  photograph.  "Aha,"  she 
thought,  "the  son  again.  Last  night  the  son, 
this  morning  the  son  —  always  the  son.  The 
excellent  Treumann  loses  no  time." 

"  He  is  good-looking,  my  Karlchen,  is  he  not  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Anna.    "  It  is  a  becoming  uniform." 

"  Oh  —  becoming  !  He  looks  adorable  in  it. 
Especially  on  his  horse.  I  would  not  let  him  be 
anything  but  a  hussar  because  of  the  charming 
uniform.  And  he  suits  it  exactly  —  such  a  lightly 
built,  graceful  figure.  He  never  stumbles  over 
people's  feet.  Herr  von  Lohm  nearly  crushed 
my  poor  foot  last  night.  It  was  difficult  not  to 
scream.  I  never  did  admire  those  long  men 
made  by  the  meter,  who  seem  as  though  they 
would  go  on  for  ever  if  there  were  no  ceilings." 

"  He  is  rather  long,"  agreed  Anna,  smiling. 

"  Heartwhole,"  thought  Frau  von  Treumann. 
"  Tell  me,  dear  Miss  Estcourt "  she  said,  lay- 
ing her  hand  on  Anna's. 

"  Oh,  don't  call  me  Miss  Estcourt." 

"  But  what,  then  }  " 

"  Oh,  you  must  call  me  Anna.  We  are  to  be 
like  sisters  here  —  and  you,  too,  please,  call  me 
Anna,"  she  said,  turning  to  the  baroness. 


262  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  You  are  very  good,"  said  the  baroness. 

"  Well,  my  little  sister,"  said  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann,  smiling,  "my  baby  sister " 

"  Baby  sister !  "  thought  the  baroness.  "  Excel- 
lent Treumann." 

"  —  you  know  an  old  woman  of  my  age  could 
not  really  have  a  sister  of  yours." 

"  Yes,  she  could  —  not  a  whole  sister,  perhaps, 
but  a  half  one." 

"  Well,  as  you  please.  The  idea  is  sweet  to 
me.  I  was  going  to  ask  you  —  but  Karlchen's 
letter  is  too  touching,  really  —  such  thoughts  in  it 

—  such  high  ideals "     And  she  turned  over 

the  sheets,  of  which  there  were  three,  and  began 
to  blow  her  nose. 

"  He  has  written  you  a  very  long  letter,"  said 
Anna  pleasantly;  the  extent  to  which  the  nose 
blowing  was  being  carried  made  her  uneasy.  Was 
there  to  be  crying  ? 

"  You  have  a  cold,  dear  Frau  von  Treumann  ? " 
inquired  the  baroness  with  solicitude. 

'^  Ac/i  nein  —  dock  ;^^m,"  murmured  Frau  von 
Treumann,  turning  the  sheets  over,  and  blowing 
her  nose  harder  than  ever. 

"  It  will  come  off,"  thought  Letty,  who  had 
slipped  in  unnoticed,  and  was  eating  bread  and 
butter  alone  at  the  further  end  of  the  table. 

"  Poor  thing,"  thought  Anna,  "  she  adores  that 
Karlchen." 

There  was  a  pause,  during  which  the  nose  con- 
tinued to  be  blown. 

"His  letter  is  beautiful,  but  sad  —  very  sad," 
said  Frau  von  Treumann,  shaking  her  head  de- 
spondingly.      "Poor   boy  —  poor  dear   boy  —  he 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  263 

misses  his  mother,  of  course.  I  knew  he  would, 
but  I  did  not  dream  it  would  be  as  bad  as  this. 
Oh,  my  dear  Miss  Estcourt  —  well,  Anna  then" 
—  smiling  faintly  —  "I  could  never  describe  to 
you  the  wrench  it  was,  the  terrible,  terrible  wrench, 
leaving  him  who  for  five  years  —  I  am  a  widow 
five  years  —  has  been  my  all." 

"  It  must  have  been  dreadful,"  murmured  Anna 
sympathetically. 

The  baroness  sat  straight  and  motionless,  star- 
ing fixedly  at  Frau  von  Treumann. 

" '  When  shall  I  see  you  again,  my  dearest 
mamma  .^ '  were  his  last  words.  And  I  could  give 
him  no  hope  —  no  answer."  The  handkerchief 
went  up  to  her  eyes. 

"  What  is  she  gassing  about }  "  wondered  Letty. 

"  I  can  see  him  now,  fading  away  on  the  plat- 
form as  my  train  bore  me  off  to  an  unknown  life. 
An  only  son  —  the  only  son  of  a  widow  —  is 
everything,  everything  to  his  mother." 

"  He  must  be,"  said  Anna. 

There  was  another  silence.  Then  Frau  von 
Treumann  wnped  her  eyes  and  took  up  the  letter 
again.  "  Now  he  writes  that  though  I  have  only 
been  away  two  days  from  Rislar,  the  town  he  is 
stationed  at,  it  seems  already  like  years.  Poor 
boy!     He  is  quite  desperate  —  listen  to  this  — 

poor  boy "     And  she    smiled    a   little,   and 

read  aloud,  " '  I  must  see  you,  liebste,  beste  Mama, 
from  time  to  time.  I  had  no  idea  the  separation 
would  be  like  this,  or  I  could  never  have  let  you 
go.     Pray  beg  Miss  Estcourt '" 

"  Aha,"  thought  the  baroness. 

" '  —  to  allow  me  to  visit  my  mother  occasion- 


264  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ally.  There  must  be  an  inn  in  the  village.  If 
not,  I  could  stay  at  Stralsund,  and  would  in  no 
way  intrude  on  her.  But  I  must  see  my  dearest 
mother,  the  being  I  have  watched  over  and  cared 
for   ever   since    my  father's   death.'     Poor,  dear, 

foolish    boy  —  he   is   desperate —  "     And   she 

folded  up  the  letter,  shook  her  head,  smiled,  and 
suddenly  buried  her  face  in  her  handkerchief. 

"  Excellent  Treumann,"  thought  the  unblinking 
baroness. 

Anna  sat  in  some  perplexity.  Sons  had  not 
entered  into  her  calculations.  In  the  correspond- 
ence, she  remembered,  the  son  had  been  lightly 
passed  over  as  an  officer  living  on  his  pay  and 
without  a  superfluous  penny  for  the  support  of 
his  parent.  Not  a  word  had  been  said  of  any 
unusual  affection  existing  between  them.  Now 
it  appeared  that  the  mother  and  son  were  all  in 
all  to  each  other.  If  so,  of  course  the  separation 
was  dreadful.  A  mother's  love  was  a  sentiment 
that  inspired  Anna  with  profound  respect.  Be- 
fore its  unknown  depths  and  heights  she  stood 
in  awe  and  silence.  How  could  she,  a  spinster, 
even  faintly  comprehend  that  sacred  feeling  ?  It 
was  a  mysterious  and  beautiful  emotion  that  she 
could  only  reverence  from  afar.  Clearly  she  must 
not  come  between  parent  and  child ;  but  yet  — 
yet  she  wished  she  had  had  more  time  to  think 
it  over. 

She  looked  rather  helplessly  at  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann, and  gave  her  hand  a  little  squeeze.  The 
hand  did  not  return  the  squeeze,  and  the  face 
remained  buried  in  the  handkerchief.  Well,  it 
would   be  absurd   to  want   to   cut   off   the   son 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  265 

entirely  from  his  mother.  If  he  came  occasion- 
ally to  see  her  it  could  not  matter  much.  She 
gave  the  hand  a  firmer  squeeze,  and  said  with  an 
effort  that  she  did  her  best  to  conceal,  "  But  he 
must  come  then,  when  he  can.  It  is  rather  a 
long  way  —  didn't  you  say  you  had  to  stay  a 
night  in  Berlin  ?  " 

"Oh,  my  dear  Miss  Estcourt — my  dear  Anna!  " 
cried  Frau  von  Treumann,  snatching  the  handker- 
chief from  her  face  and  seizing  Anna's  hand  in 
both  hers,  "  what  a  weight  from  my  heart  —  what 
a  heavy,  heavy  weight !  All  night  I  was  think- 
ing how  shall  I  bear  this  ?  I  may  write  to  him, 
then,  and  tell  him  what  you  say.?^  A  long  jour- 
ney? You  are  afraid  it  will  tire  him.?  Oh,  it 
will  be  nothing,  nothing  at  all  to  Karlchen  if  only 
he  can  see  his  mother.  How  can  I  thank  you ! 
You  will  say  my  gratitude  is  excessive  for  such 
a  little  thing,  and  truly  only  a  mother  could 
understand  it " 

In  short,  Karlchen's  appearance  at  Kleinwalde 
was  now  only  a  matter  of  days. 

"  Unverschdmt^'  was  the  baroness's  mental 
comment. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

Anna  put  on  her  hat  and  went  out  to  think  it 
over.  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  was  apparently  still 
asleep.  Letty,  accompanied  by  Miss  Leech,  had 
to  go  to  Lohm  parsonage  for  her  first  lesson  with 
Herr  Klutz,  who  had  undertaken  to  teach  her 
German.  Frau  von  Treumann  said  she  must 
write  at  once  to  Karlchen,  and  shut  herself  up  to 
do  it.  The  baroness  was  vague  as  to  her  inten- 
tions, and  disappeared.  So  Anna  started  off  by 
herself,  crossed  the  road,  and  walked  quickly  away 
into  the  forest.  "  If  it  makes  her  so  happy,  then 
I  am  glad,"  she  said  to  herself.  "  She  is  here  to 
be  happy ;  and  if  she  wants  Karlchen  so  badly, 
why  then  she  must  have  him  from  time  to  time. 
I  wonder  why  I  don't  like  Karlchen." 

She  walked  quickly,  with  her  eyes  on  the 
ground.  The  mood  in  which  she  sang  magnifi- 
cats had  left  her,  nor  did  she  look  to  see  what  the 
April  morning  was  doing.  Frau  von  Treumann 
had  not  been  under  her  roof  twenty-four  hours, 
and  already  her  son  had  been  added  —  if  only 
occasionally,  still  undoubtedly  added  —  to  the 
party.  Suppose  the  baroness  and  Fraulein  Kuh- 
rauber should  severally  disclose  an  inability  to 
live  without  being  visited  by  some  cherished  rela- 
tive? Suppose  the  other  nine,  the  still  Unchosen, 
should  each  turn  out  to  have  a  relative  waiting 
tragically  in  the   background   for  permission    to 

266 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  267 

make  repeated  calls?  And  suppose  these  rela- 
tives should  all  be  male? 

These  were  grave  questions ;  so  grave  that  she 
was  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  answer  them.  And 
then  she  felt  that  somebody  was  looking  at  her; 
and  raising  her  eyes,  she  saw  Axel  on  the  mossy 
path  quite  close  to  her. 

"  So  deep  in  thought  ?  "  he  asked,  smiling  at  her 
start. 

Anna  wondered  how  it  was  that  he  so  often 
went  through  the  forest.  Was  it  a  short  cut  from 
Lohm  to  anywhere  ?  She  had  met  him  three  or 
four  times  lately,  in  quite  out  of  the  way  parts. 
He  seemed  to  ride  through  it  and  walk  through 
it  at  all  hours  of  the  day. 

"  How  is  your  potato-planting  getting  on  ? "  she 
asked  involuntarily.  She  knew  what  a  rush  there 
was  just  then  putting  the  potatoes  in,  for  she  did 
not  drive  every  day  about  her  fields  in  a  cart  with- 
out springs  with  Dellwig  for  nothing.  Axel  must 
have  potatoes  to  plant  too ;  why  didn't  he  stay  at 
home,  then,  and  do  it  ? 

"What  a  truly  proper  question  for  a  country 
lady  to  ask,"  he  said,  looking  amused.  "You 
waste  no  time  in  conventional  good  mornings  or 
asking  how  I  do,  but  begin  at  once  with  potatoes. 
Well,  I  do  not  believe  that  you  are  really  inter- 
ested in  mine,  so  I  shall  tell  you  nothing  about 
them.  You  only  want  to  remind  me  that  I  ought 
to  be  seeing  them  planted  instead  of  walking 
about  your  woods." 

Anna  smiled.  "  I  believe  I  did  mean  some- 
thing like  that,"  she  said. 

"  Well,  I  am  not  so  aimless  as  you  suppose,"  he 


268  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

returned,  walking  by   her   side.     "  I    have   been 
looking  at  that  place." 

"  What  place  ?  " 

"  Where  Dellwig  wants  to  build  the  brick- 
kiln." 

"  Oh !     What  do  you  think  of  it  ?  " 

"  What  I  knew  I  would  think  of  it.  It  is  a  fool's 
plan.  The  clay  is  the  most  wretched  stuff.  It 
has  puzzled  me,  seeing  how  very  poor  it  is,  that 
he  should  be  so  eager  to  have  the  thing.  I  should 
have  credited  him  with  more  sense." 

"  He  is  quite  absurdly  keen  on  it.  Last  night  I 
thought  he  would  never  stop  persuading." 

"  But  you  did  not  give  in  ?  " 

"  Not  an  inch.  I  said  I  would  ask  you  to  look 
at  it,  and  then  he  was  simply  rude.  I  do  believe 
he  will  have  to  go.  I  don't  really  think  we  shall 
ever  get  on  together.  Certainly,  as  you  say  the 
clay  is  bad,  I  shall  refuse  to  build  a  brick-kiln." 

Axel  smiled  at  her  energy.  In  the  morning 
she  was  always  determined  about  Dellwig.  "  You 
are  very  brave  to-day,"  he  said.  "  Last  night  you 
seemed  afraid  of  him." 

"  He  comes  when  I  am  tired.  I  am  not  going 
to  see  him  in  the  evening  any  more.  It  is  too 
dreadful  as  a  finish  to  a  happy  day." 

"  It  was  a  happy  day,  then,  yesterday  ? "  he  asked 
quickly. 

"  Yes  —  that  is,  it  ought  to  have  been,  and  prob- 
ably would  have  been  if  —  if  I  hadn't  been  tired." 

"  But  the  others  —  the  new  arrivals  —  they  must 
have  been  happy  ?  " 

"  Yes  —  oh  yes  —  "  said  Anna,  hesitating,  "  I 
think  so.     Fraulein  Kuhrauber  was,  I  am  sure,  at 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  269 

intervals.  I  think  the  other  two  would  have  been 
if  they  hadn't  had  a  journey." 

"  By  the  way,  do  you  remember  what  I  said 
yesterday  about  the  Elmreichs  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  do.  You  said  horrid  things."  Her 
voice  changed. 

"  About  a  Baron  Elmreich.  But  he  had  a  sister 
who  made  a  hash  of  her  life.  I  saw  her  once  or 
twice  in  Berlin.  She  was  dancing  at  the  Winter- 
garten,  and  under  her  own  name." 

"  Poor  thing.     But  it  doesn't  interest  me." 

"  Don't  get  angry  yet." 

"  But  it  doesn't  interest  me.  And  why  shouldn't 
she  dance  ?  I  knew  several  people  who  ended  by 
dancing  at  London  Wintergartens." 

"  You  admit,  then,  that  it  is  an  end  ? " 

"  It  is  hardly  a  beginning,"  conceded  Anna. 

*'  She  was  so  amazingly  like  your  baroness  would 
be  if  she  painted  and  wore  a  wig " 

"  That  you  are  convinced  they  must  be  sisters. 
Thank  you.  Now  what  do  you  suppose  is  the 
good  of  telling  me  that  ?  "  And  she  stood  still 
and  faced  him,  her  eyes  flashing. 

Do  what  he  would.  Axel  could  not  help  smiling 
at  her  wrath.  It  was  the  wrath  of  a  mother  whose 
child  has  been  hurt  by  someone  on  purpose.  "  I 
wish,"  he  said,  "that  you  would  not  be  so  angry 
when  I  tell  you  things  that  might  be  important 
for  you  to  know.  If  your  baroness  is  really  the 
sister  of  the  dancing  baroness " 

"  But  she  is  not.  She  told  me  last  night  that 
she  has  no  brothers  and  sisters.  And  she  wrote 
it  in  the  letters  before  she  came.  Do  you  think  it 
is  a  praiseworthy  occupation  for  a  man,  doing  his 


270  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

best  to  find  out  disgraceful  things  about  a  very 
poor  and  very  helpless  woman  ?  " 

"  No,  I  do  not,"  said  Axel  decidedly.  "  Under 
any  other  circumstances  I  would  leave  the  poor 
lady  to  take  her  chance.  But  do  consider,"  he 
said,  following  her,  for  she  had  begun  to  walk  on 
quickly  again,  "do  consider  your  unusual  position. 
You  are  so  young  to  be  living  away  from  your 
friends,  and  so  young  and  inexperienced  to  be  at 
the  head  of  a  home  for  homeless  women  —  you 
ought  to  be  quite  extraordinarily  particular  about 
the  antecedents  of  the  people  you  take  in.  It 
would  be  most  unpleasant  if  it  got  about  that 
they  were  not  respectable." 

"  But  they  are  respectable,"  said  Anna,  looking 
straight  before  her. 

"  A  sister  who  dances  at  the  Wintergarten " 

"  Did  I  not  tell  you  that  she  has  no  sister }  " 

Axel  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  The  resem- 
blance is  so  striking  that  they  might  be  twins," 
he  said. 

"  Then  you  think  she  says  what  is  not  true  ?  " 

"How  can  I  tell  ?  " 

Anna  stopped  again  and  faced  him.  "Well, 
suppose  it  were  true  —  suppose  it  is  her  sister, 
and  she  has  tried  to  hide  it  —  do  you  know  how 
I  should  feel  about  it  ? " 

"  Properly  scandalised,  I  hope." 

"  I  should  love  her  all  the  more.  Oh,  I  should 
love  her  twice  as  much !  Why,  think  of  the  mis- 
ery and  the  shame  —  poor,  poor  little  woman  — 
trying  to  hide  it  all,  bearing  it  all  by  herself  — 
she  must  have  loved  her  sister,  she  must  have 
loved  her  brother.     It  isn't  true,  of  course,  but 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  271 

supposing  it  were,  could  you  tell  me  any  reason 
why  I  should  turn  my  back  on  her  ? " 

She  stood  looking  at  him,  her  eyes  full  of  angry 
tears. 

He  did  not  answer.  If  that  was  the  way  she 
felt,  what  could  he  do  ? 

"  I  never  understood,"  she  went  on  passionately, 
"  why  the  innocent  should  be  punished.  Do  you 
suppose  a  woman  would  like  her  brother  to  cheat 
and  then  shoot  himself?  Or  like  her  sister  to  go 
and  dance  ?  But  if  they  do  do  these  things,  be- 
sides her  own  grief  and  horror,  she  is  to  be 
shunned  by  everybody  as  though  she  were  infec- 
tious. Is  that  fair }  Is  that  right  ?  Is  it  in  the 
least  Christian  ?  " 

"  No,  of  course  it  is  not.  It  is  very  hard  and 
very  ugly,  but  it  is  quite  natural.  An  old  woman 
in  a  strong  position  might  take  such  a  person  up, 
perhaps,  and  comfort  her  and  love  her  as  you  pro- 
pose to  do,  but  a  young  girl  ought  not  to  do  any- 
thing of  the  sort." 

Anna  turned  away  with  a  quick  movement  of 
impatience  and  walked  on.  "  If  you  argue  on  the 
young  girl  basis,"  she  said,  "we  shall  never  be 
able  to  talk  about  a  single  thing.  When  will  you 
leave  off  about  my  young  girlishness?  In  five 
years  I  shall  be  thirty  —  will  you  go  on  till  I 
have  reached  that  blessed  age  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  right  to  go  on  to  you  about  any- 
thing," said  Axel. 

"  Precisely,"  said  Anna. 

"  But  please  remember  that  I  owe  an  enormous 
debt  of  gratitude  to  your  uncle,  and  make  allow- 
ances for  me  if  I  am  over-zealous  in  my  anxiety 


272  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

to  shield  his  niece  from  possible  unpleasant- 
ness." 

"  Then  don't  keep  telling  me  I  am  too  young  to 
do  good.  It  is  ludicrous,  considering  my  age, 
besides  being  dreadful.  You  will  say  that,  I 
believe,  till  I  am  thirty  or  forty,  and  then  when 
you  can't  decently  say  it  any  more,  and  I  still 
want  to  do  things,  you'll  say  I'm  old  enough  to 
know  better." 

Axel  laughed.  Anna's  dimples  appeared  for  an 
instant,  but  vanished  again. 

"  Now,"  she  said,  "  I  am  not  going  to  talk  about 
poor  little  Else  any  more.  Let  her  distant  rela- 
tions dance  till  they  are  tired  —  it  concerns  no- 
body here  at  all." 

"Little  Else.^" 

"  The  baroness.  Of  course  we  shall  call 
each  other  by  our  Christian  names.  We  are 
sisters." 

"  I  see." 

"  You  don't  see  at  all,"  she  said,  with  a  swift 
sideward  glance  at  him. 

"  My  dear  Miss  Estcourt " 

"  If  my  plan  succeeds  it  will  certainly  not  be 
because  I  have  been  encouraged." 

"  I  think,"  he  said  with  sudden  warmth,  "  that 
the  plan  is  beautiful,  and  could  only  have  been 
made  by  a  beautiful  nature." 

"Oh.f^"  ejaculated  Anna,  surprised.  A  flush  of 
gratification  came  into  her  face.  The  heartiness 
of  the  tone  surprised  her  even  more  than  the 
words.  She  stood  still  to  look  at  him.  "  It  is  a 
pity,"  she  said  softly,  "  that  nearly  always  when  we 
are  together  we  get  angry,  for  you  can  be  so  kind 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  273 

when  you  choose.  Say  nice  things  to  me.  Let 
us  be  happy.     I  love  being  happy." 

She  held  out  her  hand,  smiling.  He  took  it 
and  gave  it  a  hearty,  matter  of  fact  shake,  and 
dropped  it.  It  was  very  awkward,  but  he  was 
struggling  with  an  overpowering  desire  to  take 
her  in  his  arms  and  kiss  her,  and  not  let  her  go 
again  till  she  had  said  she  would  marry  him.  It 
was  exceedingly  awkward,  for  he  knew  quite  well 
that  if  he  did  so  it  would  be  the  end  of  all  things. 

He  turned  rather  white,  and  thrust  his  hands 
deep  into  his  pockets.  "  Yes,  the  plan  is  beauti- 
ful," he  said  cheerfully,  "but  very  unpractical. 
And  the  nature  that  made  it  is,  I  am  sure,  beauti- 
ful, but  of  course  quite  as  unpractical  as  the  plan." 
And  he  smiled  down  at  her,  a  broad,  genial  smile. 

"  I  know  I  don't  set  about  things  the  right 
way,"  she  said.  "  If  only  you  wouldn't  worry  about 
the  pasts  of  my  poor  friends  and  what  their  rela- 
tions may  have  done  in  pre-historic  times,  you 
could  help  me  so  much." 

To  his  relief  she  began  to  walk  on  again. 
"  Princess  Ludwig  is  a  sensible  and  experienced 
woman,"  he  said,  "and  can  help  you  in  many 
ways  that  I  cannot." 

"  But  she  only  looks  at  the  praktische  side  of 
a  question,  and  that  is  really  only  one  side.  I  am 
too  unpractical,  I  know,  but  she  isn't  unpractical 
enough.  But  I  don't  want  to  talk  about  her. 
What  I  wanted  to  say  was,  that  once  these  poor 
ladies  have  been  chosen  and  are  here,  the  time  for 
making  inquiries  is  over,  isn't  it  ?  As  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  anyhow,  it  is.  I  shall  never  forsake 
them,  never,  never.    So  please  don't  try  to  tell  me 


2  74  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

things  about  them  —  it  doesn't  change  my  feel- 
ings towards  them,  and  only  makes  me  angry 
with  you.  Which  is  a  pity.  I  want  to  live  at 
peace  with  my  neighbour." 

"  Well  ?  "  he  said,  as  she  paused.  "  That,  I  take 
it,  is  a  prelude  to  something  else." 

"  Yes,  it  is.     It's  a  prelude  to  Karlchen." 

"  To  Karlchen  ?  " 

She  looked  at  him,  and  laughed  rather  ner- 
vously. "  I  am  afraid,"  she  said,  "  that  Karlchen 
is  coming  to  stay  with  me." 

"  And  who,  pray,  is  Karlchen  ?  " 

"  The  only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she  is  a 
widow." 

He  came  to  a  standstill  again.  "What,"  he 
said,  "  Frau  von  Treumann  has  asked  you  to  invite 
her  son  to  Kleinwalde  ?  " 

"  She  didn't  actually  ask,  but  she  got  a  sad  let- 
ter from  him,  and  seemed  to  feel  the  separation  so 
much,  and  cried  about  it,  and  so  —  and  so  I  did." 

Axel  was  silent. 

"  I  don't  yearn  to  see  Karlchen,"  said  Anna  in 
rather  a  small  voice.  She  could  not  help  feeling 
that  the  invitation  had  been  wrung  from  her. 

Axel  bored  a  hole  in  the  moss  with  his  stick, 
and  did  not  answer. 

"  But  naturally  his  poor  mother  clings  to  him, 
and  he  to  her." 

Axel  was  intent  on  his  hole  and  did  not  answer. 

"  They  are  all  the  world  to  each  other." 

Axel  filled  up  his  hole  again,  and  pressed  the 
moss  carefully  over  it  with  his  foot.  Then  he 
said,  "  I  never  yet  heard  of  two  Treumanns  being 
all  the  world  to  each  other." 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  275 

"You  appear  to  have  a  down  on  the  Treu- 
manns." 

"  Not  in  the  least.  I  do  not  think  they  inter- 
est me  enough.  It  is  an  East  Prussian  Junker 
family  that  has  spread  beyond  its  natural  limits, 
and  one  meets  them  everywhere,  and  knows  their 
characteristics.  What  is  this  young  man  ?  I  do 
not  remember  having  heard  of  him." 

"  He  is  an  officer  at  Rislar." 

"  At  Rislar  ?  Those  are  the  red  hussars.  Do 
you  wish  me  to  make  inquiries  about  him  ? " 

"  Oh,  no.  It's  no  use.  His  mother  can't  be 
happy  without  him,  so  he  must  come." 

"  Then  may  I  ask  why,  if  I  am  not  to  help  you 
in  the  matter,  we  are  talking  about  him  at  all  ?  " 

"I  wanted  to  ask  you  whether  —  whether  you 
think  he  will  come  often." 

"  I  should  think,"  said  Axel  positively,  "  that  he 
will  come  very  often  indeed." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  Anna. 

They  walked  on  in  silence. 

"  Have  you  considered,"  he  said  presently, 
"what  you  would  do  if  your  other  —  sisters  want 
their  relations  asked  down  to  stay  with  them  ? 
Christmas,  for  instance,  is  a  time  of  general  re- 
joicing, when  the  coldest  hearts  grow  warm.  Re- 
lations who  have  quarrelled  all  the  year,  seek  each 
other  out  at  Christmas  and  talk  tearfully  of  ties 
of  blood.  And  birthdays  —  will  your  twelve  sis- 
ters be  content  to  spend  their  twelve  birthdays 
remote  from  all  members  of  their  family  ?  Birth- 
days here  are  important  days.  There  will  be  one 
a  month  now  for  you  to  celebrate  at  Klein- 
walde." 


2  76  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  I  have  not  got  farther  than  considering 
Karlchen,"  said  Anna  with  some  impatience. 

"A  male  Kuhrauber,"  said  Axel  musingly, 
swinging  his  stick  and  gazing  up  at  the  fleecy 
clouds  floating  over  the  pine  tops,  "  a  male  Kuh- 
rauber would  be  quite  unlike  anything  you  have 
yet  seen." 

"  There  are  no  male  Kuhraubers,"  said  Anna. 
"  At  least,"  she  added,  correcting  herself,  "  Frau- 
lein  Kuhrauber  said  so.  She  said  she  had  no 
relations  at  all,  but  perhaps  —  perhaps  she  has 
forgotten  some,  and  will  remember  them  by  and 
by.  Oh,  I  wish  they  would  tell  me  exactly  how 
they  stand,  and  not  try  to  hide  anything!  I 
thought  we  had  left  nothing  unexplained  in  the 

letters,  but  now  Karlchen  —  it  seems "     She 

stopped  and  bit  her  lip.  She  was  actually  on  the 
verge  of  criticising,  to  Axel,  the  behaviour  of  her 
sisters.  "  Look,"  she  said,  catching  sight  of  red 
roofs  through  the  thinning  trees,  "isn't  that 
Lohm.?  I  have  seen  you  home  without  know- 
mg  it. 

She  held  out  her  hand.  "  It  isn't  much  good 
talking,  is  it  ? "  she  said,  moved  by  a  sudden  impulse, 
and  looking  up  at  him  with  a  slightly  wistful  smile. 
"  How  we  talk  and  talk  and  never  get  any  nearer 
anything  or  each  other.  Such  an  amount  of  ex- 
plaining oneself,  and  all  no  use.  I  don't  mean 
you  and  me  especially  —  it  is  always  so,  with  every- 
one and  everywhere.  It  is  very  weird.  Good- 
bye." 

But  he  held  her  hand  and  would  not  let  her  go. 
"  No,"  he  said,  in  a  voice  she  did  not  know,  "  wait 
one  moment.     Why  will  you  not  let  me  really  help 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  277 

you  ?  Do  you  think  you  will  ever  achieve  any- 
thing by  shutting  your  eyes  to  what  is  true  ?  Is 
it  not  better  to  face  it,  and  then  to  do  one's  best 
—  after  that,  knowing  the  truth?  Why  are  you 
angry  whenever  I  try  to  tell  you  the  truth,  or  what 
I  believe  to  be  the  truth  about  these  ladies  ?  You 
are  certain  to  find  it  out  for  yourself  one  day. 
You  force  me  to  look  on  and  see  you  being  disap- 
pointed, and  grieved,  and  perhaps  cheated  —  any- 
how your  confidence  abused  —  and  you  reduce 
our  talks  together  to  a  sort  of  sparring  match  un- 
worthy, quite  unworthy  of  either  of  us "    He 

broke  off  abruptly  and  released  her  hand.  The 
passion  in  his  voice  was  unmistakable,  and  she 
was  listening  with  astonished  eyes.  "  I  am  lectur- 
ing you,"  he  said  in  his  usual  even  tones.  "  For- 
give me  for  thinking  that  you  are  setting  about 
your  plan  in  a  way  that  can  never  be  successful. 
As  you  say,  we  talk  and  talk,  and  the  more  we 
talk  the  less  do  we  understand  each  other.  It  is 
a  foolish  world,  and  a  pre-eminently  lonely  one." 

He  lifted  his  hat  and  turned  away.  Anna 
opened  her  lips  to  say  something,  but  he  was 
gone. 

She  went  home  and  meditated  on  volcanoes. 


CHAPTER   XX 

The  May  that  year  in  Northern  Germany  was 
the  May  of  a  poet's  dream.  The  days  were  Hke 
a  chain  of  pearls,  increasing  in  beauty  and  pre- 
ciousness  as  the  chain  lengthened.  The  lilacs 
flowered  a  fortnight  earlier  than  in  other  years. 
The  winds,  so  restless  usually  on  those  flat  shores, 
seemed  all  asleep,  and  hardly  stirred.  About  the 
middle  of  the  month  the  moon  was  at  the  full,  and 
the  forest  became  enchanted  ground.  It  was  a 
time  for  love  and  lovers,  for  vows  and  kisses,  for 
all  pretty,  happy,  hopeful  things.  Only  those 
farmers  who  were  too  old  to  love  and  vow,  looked 
at  their  rye  fields  and  grumbled  because  there  was 
no  rain. 

Karlchen,  arriving  on  the  first  Saturday  of  that 
blessed  month,  felt  all  disposed  to  love,  if  the  Eng- 
Idnderin  should  turn  out  to  be  in  the  least  degree 
lovable.  He  did  not  ask  much  of  a  young  woman 
with  a  fortune,  but  he  inwardly  prayed  that  she 
might  not  be  quite  so  ugly  as  wives  with  money 
sometimes  are.  He  was  a  man  used  to  having 
what  he  wanted,  and  had  spent  his  own  and  his 
mother's  money  in  getting  it.  There  was  a  little 
bald  patch  on  the  top  of  his  head,  and  there  were 
many  debts  on  his  mind,  and  he  was  nearing  the 
critical  point  in  an  oflicer's  career,  the  turning  of 
which  is  reserved  exclusively  for  the  eflicient ;  and 

278 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  279 

SO  he  had  three  excellent  reasons  for  desiring  to 
marry.  He  had  desired  it,  indeed,  for  some  time, 
had  attempted  it  often,  and  had  not  achieved  it. 
The  fathers  of  wealthy  German  girls  knew  the 
state  of  his  finances  with  an  exactitude  that  was 
unworthy ;  and  they  knew,  besides,  every  one  of 
his  little  weaknesses.  As  a  result,  they  gave  their 
daughters  to  other  suitors.  But  here  was  a  girl 
without  a  father,  who  knew  nothing  about  him  at 
all.  There  was,  of  course,  some  story  in  the  back- 
ground to  account  for  her  living  in  this  way ;  but 
that  was  precisely  what  would  make  her  glad  of  a 
husband  who  would  relieve  her  of  the  necessity 
of  building  up  the  weaker  parts  of  her  reputation 
on  a  foundation  of  what  Karlchen,  when  he  saw 
the  inmates  of  the  house,  rudely  stigmatised  as 
alte  Schachteln,  Reputations,  he  reflected,  star- 
ing at  Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  may  be  too  dearly 
bought.  Naturally  she  would  prefer  an  easy-going 
husband,  who  would  let  her  see  life  with  all  its 
fun,  to  this  dreary  and  aimless  existence. 

The  Treumanns,  he  thought,  were  in  luck. 
What  a  burden  his  mother  had  been  on  him  for 
the  last  five  years !  Miss  Estcourt  had  relieved 
him  of  it.  Now  there  were  his  debts,  and  she 
would  reheve  him  of  those  ;  and  the  little  entangle- 
ment she  must  have  had  at  home  would  not  matter 
in  Germany,  where  no  one  knew  anything  about 
her,  except  that  she  was  the  highly  respectable 
Joachim's  niece.  Anyway,  he  w^as  perfectly  willing 
to  let  bygones  be  bygones.  He  left  his  bag  at 
the  inn  at  Kleinwalde,  an  impossible  place  as  he 
noted  with  pleasure,  sent  away  his  Droschke,  and 
walked  round  to  the  house ;  but  he  did  not  see 


28o  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna.  She  kept  out  of  the  way  till  the  evening, 
and  he  had  ample  time  to  be  happy  with  his 
mother.  When  he  did  see  her,  he  fell  in  love  with 
her  at  once.  He  had  quite  a  simple  nature,  com- 
posed wholly  of  instincts,  and  fell  in  love  with  an 
ease  acquired  by  long  practice.  Anna's  face  and 
figure  were  far  prettier  than  he  had  dared  to  hope. 
She  was  a  beauty,  he  told  himself  with  much 
satisfaction.  Truly  the  Treumanns  were  in  luck. 
He  entirely  forgot  the  role  he  was  to  play  of  loving 
son,  and  devoted  himself,  with  his  habitual  artless- 
ness,  to  her.  Indeed,  if  he  had  not  forgotten  it, 
he  and  his  mother  were  so  little  accustomed  to 
displays  of  affection  that  they  would  have  been 
but  clumsy  actors.  There  is  a  great  difference 
between  affectionate  letters  written  quietly  in  one's 
room,  and  affectionate  conversation  that  has  to  sound 
as  though  it  welled  up  from  one's  heart.  Nothing 
of  the  kind  ever  welled  up  from  Karlchen's  heart ; 
and  Anna  noticed  at  once  that  there  were  no  signs 
of  unusual  attachment  between  mother  and  son. 
Karlchen  was  not  even  commonly  polite  to  his 
mother,  nor  did  she  seem  to  expect  him  to  be. 
When  she  dropped  her  scissors,  she  had  to  pick 
them  up  for  herself.  When  she  lost  her  thimble, 
she  hunted  for  it  alone.  When  she  wanted  a 
footstool,  she  got  up  and  fetched  one  from  under 
his  very  nose.  When  she  came  into  the  room  and 
looked  about  for  a  chair,  it  was  Letty  who  offered 
her  hers.  Karlchen  sat  comfortably  with  his  legs 
crossed,  playing  with  the  paper-knife  he  had  taken 
out  of  the  book  Anna  had  been  reading,  and 
making  himself  pleasant.  He  had  his  mother's 
large  black  eyes,  and  very  long  thick  black  eye- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  281 

lashes  of  which  he  was  proud,  conscious  that  they 
rested  becomingly  on  his  cheeks  when  he  looked 
down  at  the  paper-knife.  Letty  was  greatly  struck 
by  them,  and  inquired  of  Miss  Leech  in  a  whisper 
whether  she  had  ever  seen  their  like. 

"  Mr.  Jessup  had  silken  eyelashes  too,"  replied 
Miss  Leech  dreamily. 

"  These  aren't  silk  —  they're  cotton  eyelashes," 
said  Letty  scornfully. 

"  My  dear  Letty,"  murmured  Miss  Leech. 

Anna  was  at  a  disadvantage  because  of  her 
imperfect  German.  She  could  not  repress  Karl- 
chen  when  he  w^as  unduly  kind  as  she  would  have 
done  in  English,  and  with  his  mother  presiding, 
as  it  were,  at  their  opening  friendship,  she  did  not 
Hke  to  begin  by  looking  lofty.  Luckily  the  prin- 
cess was  unusually  chatty  that  evening.  She  sat 
next  to  Karlchen,  and  continually  joined  in  the 
talk.  She  was  cheerful  amiability  itself,  and  in- 
sisted upon  being  told  all  about  those  sons  of  her 
acquaintances  who  were  in  his  regiment.  When 
he  half  turned  his  back  on  her  and  dropped  his 
voice  to  a  rapid  undertone,  thereby  making  him- 
self completely  incomprehensible  to  Anna,  the 
princess  pleasantly  advised  him  to  speak  very 
slowly  and  distinctly,  for  unless  he  did  Miss  Est- 
court  would  certainly  not  understand.  In  a 
word,  she  took  him  under  her  wing  whether  he 
would  or  no,  and  persisted  in  her  friendliness  in 
spite  of  his  mother's  increasingly  desperate  efforts 
to  draw  her  into  conversation. 

"  Why  do  we  not  go  out,  dear  Anna  ? "  cried 
Frau  von  Treumann  at  last,  unable  to  endure  Prin- 
cess Ludwig's  behaviour  any  longer.    "  Look  what 


2«2 


THE   BENEFACTRESS 


a  fine  evening  it  is  —  and  quite  warm."  And  she 
who  till  then  had  gone  about  shutting  windows, 
and  had  been  unable  to  bear  the  least  breath  of 
air,  herself  opened  the  glass  doors  leading  into  the 
garden  and  went  out. 

But  although  they  all  followed  her,  nothing  was 
gained  by  it.  She  could  have  stamped  her  foot 
with  rage  at  the  princess's  conduct.  Here  was 
everything  needful  for  the  beginning  of  a  suc- 
cessful courtship  —  starlight,  a  murmuring  sea, 
warm  air,  fragrant  bushes,  a  girl  who  looked  like 
Love  itself  in  the  dusk  in  her  pale  beauty,  a  young 
man  desiring  nothing  better  than  to  be  allowed  to 
love  her,  and  a  mother  only  waiting  to  bless.  But 
here  too,  unfortunately,  was  the  princess. 

She  was  quite  appallingly  sociable  —  "  The  spite 
of  the  woman  ! "  thought  Frau  von  Treumann,  for 
what  could  it  matter  to  her  ?  —  and  remained  fixed 
at  Anna's  side  as  they  paced  slowly  up  and  down 
the  grass,  monopolising  Karlchen's  attention  with 
her  absurd  questions  about  his  brother  officers. 
Anna  walked  between  them,  thinking  of  other 
things,  holding  up  her  trailing  white  dress  with 
one  hand,  and  with  the  other  the  edges  of  her 
blue  cloak  together  at  her  neck.  She  was  half  a 
head  taller  than  Karlchen,  and  so  was  his  mother, 
who  walked  on  his  other  side.  Karlchen,  becom- 
ing more  and  more  enamoured  the  longer  he 
walked,  looked  up  at  her  through  his  eyelashes 
and  told  himself  that  the  Treumanns  were  cer- 
tainly in  luck,  for  he  had  stumbled  on  a  goddess. 

"  The  grass  is  damp,"  cried  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann, interrupting  the  endless  questions.  "  My 
dear  princess  —  your  rheumatism  —  and  I  who  so 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  183 

easily  get  colds.  Come,  we  will  go  off  the  grass 
—  we  are  not  young  enough  to  risk  wet  feet." 

"  I  do  not  feel  it,"  said  the  princess,  "  I  have 
thick  shoes.  But  you,  dear  Frau  von  Treumann, 
do  not  stay  if  you  have  fears." 

"  It  is  damp,"  said  Anna,  turning  up  the  sole  of 
her  shoe.     "  Shall  we  go  on  to  the  path .?  " 

On  the  path  it  was  obvious  that  they  must  walk 
in  couples.  Arrived  at  its  edge,  the  princess 
stopped  and  looked  round  with  an  urbane  smile. 
"  My  dear  child,"  she  said  to  Anna,  taking  her 
arm,  "  we  have  been  keeping  Herr  von  Treumann 
from  his  mother  regardless  of  his  feelings.  I  beg 
you  to  pardon  my  thoughtlessness,"  she  added, 
turning  to  him,  "  but  my  interest  in  hearing  of  my 
old  friends'  sons  has  made  me  quite  forget  that 
you  took  this  long  journey  to  be  with  your  dear 
mother.   We  will  not  interrupt  you  further.    Come, 

my  dear,  I  wanted  to  ask  you "    And  she  led 

Anna  away,  dropping  her  voice  to  a  confidential 
questioning  concerning  the  engaging  of  a  new 
cook. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done.  The  only  crumb 
of  comfort  Karlchen  obtained  —  but  it  was  a  big 
one  —  was  a  reluctantly  given  invitation,  on  his 
mother's  vividly  describing  at  the  hour  of  parting 
the  place  where  he  was  to  spend  the  night,  to  re- 
move his  luggage  from  the  inn  to  Anna's  house, 
and  to  sleep  there. 

"  You  are  too  good,  vieine  Gnddigste^'  he  said, 
consoled  by  this  for  the  tete-a-tete  he  had  just  had 
with  his  mother ;  "  but  if  it  in  any  way  incon- 
veniences you  —  we  soldiers  are  used  to  roughing 
it " 


284  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  But  not  like  that,  not  like  that,  lieber  Junge'' 
interrupted  his  mother  anxiously.  "  It  is  not  fit 
for  a  dog,  that  inn,  and  I  heard  this  very  evening 
from  the  housemaid  that  one  of  the  children  there 
has  the  measles." 

That  quite  settled  it.  Anna  could  not  expose 
Karlchen  to  measles.  Why  did  he  not  stay,  as 
he  had  written  he  would,  at  Stralsund  ?  As  he 
was  here,  however,  she  could  not  let  him  fall  a 
prey  to  measles,  and  she  asked  the  princess  to 
order  a  room  to  be  got  ready. 

It  is  a  proof  of  her  solemnity  on  that  first  even- 
ing with  Karlchen  that  when  his  mother,  praising 
her  beauty,  mentioned  her  dimples  as  specially 
bewitching,  he  should  have  said,  surprised,  "  What 
dimples  1  " 

It  is  a  proof,  too,  of  the  duplicity  of  mothers, 
that  the  very  next  day  in  church  the  princess,  sit- 
ting opposite  the  innkeeper's  rosy  family,  and 
counting  its  members  between  the  verses  of  the 
hymn,  should  have  found  that  not  one  was  miss- 
ing. 

Karlchen  left  on  Sunday  evening  after  a  not 
very  successful  visit.  He  had  been  to  church, 
believing  that  it  was  expected  of  him,  and  had 
found  to  his  disgust  that  Anna  had  gone  for  a 
walk.  So  there  he  sat,  between  his  mother  and 
Princess  Ludwig,  and  extracted  what  consolation 
he  could  from  a  studied  neglect  of  the  outer 
forms  of  worship  and  an  elaborate  slumber  during 
the  sermon. 

The  morning,  then,  was  wasted.  At  luncheon 
Anna  was  unapproachable.  Karlchen  was  in- 
vited to  sit  next  to  his  mother,  and  Anna  was 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  285 

protected  by  Letty  on  the  one  hand  and  Fraulein 
Kuhrauber  on  the  other,  and  she  talked  the  whole 
time  to  Fraulein  Kuhrauber. 

"Who  is  Fraulein  Kuhrauber?"  he  inquired 
irritably  of  his  mother,  when  they  found  them- 
selves alone  together  again  in  the  afternoon. 

"  Well,  you  can  see  who  she  is,  I  should  think," 
replied  his  mother  equally  irritably.  "  She  is  just 
Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  and  nothing  more." 

"  Anna  talks  to  her  more  than  to  anyone,"  he 
said;  she  was  already  "Anna"  to  him,  tout  court, 

"  Yes.     It  is  disgusting." 

"  It  is  very  disgusting.  It  is  not  right  that 
Treumanns  should  be  forced  to  associate  on 
equal  terms  with  such  a  person." 

"  It  is  scandalous.  But  you  will  change  all 
that." 

Karlchen  twisted  up  the  ends  of  his  moustache 
and  looked  down  his  nose.  He  often  looked  down 
his  nose  because  of  his  eyelashes.  He  began  to 
hum  a  tune,  and  felt  happy  again.  Axel  Lohm 
was  right  when  he  doubted  whether  there  had 
ever  been  a  permanently  crushed  Treumann. 

"  She  has  a  strange  assortment  of  alte  Schach- 
teln  here,"  he  said,  after  a  pause  during  which 
his  thoughts  were  rosy.  "That  Elmreich,  now. 
What  relation  does  she  say  she  is  to  Arthur 
Elmreich }  " 

"  The  man  who  shot  himself  ?  Oh,  she  is  no 
relation  at  all.     At  most  a  distant  cousin." 

"  Na,  na,''  was  Karlchen's  reply ;  a  reply  whose 
English  equivalent  would  be  a  profoundly  scepti- 
cal wink. 

His  mother  looked  at  him,  waiting  for  more. 


286  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"What  do   you  really  think ?"    she  began, 

and  then  stopped. 

He  stood  before  the  glass  readjusting  his  mous- 
tache into  the  regulation  truculent  upward  twist. 
"  Think  ?  "  he  said.  "  You  know  Arthur's^  sister 
Lolli  was  engaged  at  the  Wintergarten  this  win- 
ter. She  was  not  much  of  a  success.  Too  old. 
But  she  was  down  on  the  bills  as  Baroness  Elm- 
reich,  and  people  went  to  see  her  because  of  that, 
and  because  of  her  brother." 

"Oh  —  terrible,"  murmured  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann. 

"  Well,  I  know  her ;  and  I  shall  ask  her  next 
time  I  see  her  if  she  has  a  sister." 

"  But  this  one  has  no  relations  living  at  all," 
said  his  mother,  horrified  at  the  bare  suggestion 
that  Lolli  was  the  sister  of  a  person  with  whom 
she  ate  her  dinner  every  day. 

" Na,  na','  said  Karlchen. 

"  But  my  dear  Karlchen,  it  is  so  unlikely  —  the 
baroness  is  the  veriest  pattern  of  primness.  She 
has  such  very  strict  views  about  all  such  things  — 
quite  absurdly  strict.  She  even  had  doubts,  she 
told  me,  when  first  she  came  here,  as  to  whether 
Anna  were  a  fit  companion  for  her." 

Karlchen  stopped  twisting  his  moustache,  and 
stared  at  his  mother.  Then  he  threw  back  his 
head  and  shrieked  with  laughter.  He  laughed  so 
much  that  for  some  moments  he  could  not  speak. 
His  mother's  face,  as  she  watched  him  without 
a  smile,  made  him  laugh  still  more.  '' Liebste 
Mama,'  he  said  at  last,  wiping  his  eyes,  "  it  may 
of  course  not  be  true.  It  is  just  possible^  that  it 
is  not.     But  I  feel  sure  it  is  true,  for  this  Elm- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  287 

reich  and  the  little  LoUi  are  as  alike  as  two  peas. 
Anna  not  a  fit  companion  for  Lolli's  sister !  Ach 
Gott,  ach  Gott!''     And  he  shrieked  again. 

"  If  it  is  true,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann,  draw- 
ing herself  up  to  her  full  height,  "  it  is  my  duty 
to  tell  Anna.  I  cannot  stay  under  the  same  roof 
with  such  a  woman.     She  must  go." 

"  Take  care,"  said  her  son,  illumined  by  an  un- 
accustomed ray  of  sapience,  "take  care,  Mutti. 
It  is  not  certain  that  Anna  would  send  her  away." 

"  What !  if  she  knew  about  this  —  this  Lolli,  as 
you  call  her  ?  " 

Karlchen  shook  his  head.  "  It  is  better  not  to 
begin  with  ultimatums,"  he  said  sagely.  "  If  you 
say  you  cannot  stay  under  the  same  roof  with  the 
Elmreich,  and  she  does  not  after  that  go,  why  then 
you  must.  And  that,"  he  added,  looking  alarmed, 
"would  be  disastrous.  No,  no,  leave  it  alone. ^  In 
any  case  leave  it  alone  till  I  have  seen  Lolli.  I 
shall  come  down  soon  again,  you  may  be  sure.  I 
wish  we  could  get  rid  of  the  Penheim.  ^  Now  that 
really  would  be  a  good  thing.     Think  it  over." 

But  Frau  von  Treumann  felt  that  by  no  amount 
of  thinking  it  over  would  they  ever  get  rid  of  the 
Penheim. 

"  You  do  not  like  my  Karlchen  ?  "  she  said  plain- 
tively to  Anna  that  evening,  coming  out  into  the 
dusky  garden  where  she  stood  looking  at  the  stars. 
Karlchen  was  well  on  his  way  to  Berlin  by  that 
time. 

"  I  am  sure  I  should  like  him  very  much  if  I 
knew  him,"  replied  Anna,  putting^  all  the  hearti- 
ness she  could  muster  into  her  voice. 

Frau   von    Treumann    shook  her   head  sadly. 


288  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  But  now  ?   I  see  you  do  not  like  him  now.    You 
hardly  spoke  to  him.     He  was  hurt.     A  mother  " 

—  "  Oh,"  thought  Anna,  "  I  am  tired  of  mothers," 

—  "a  mother  always  knows." 

Her  handkerchief  came  out.  She  had  put  one 
hand  through  Anna's  arm,  and  with  the  other 
began  to  wipe  her  eyes.  Anna  watched  her  in 
silence. 

"What?  What?  Tears?  Do  I  see  tears?  Are 
we  then  missing  our  son  so  much  ?  "  exclaimed  a 
cheery  voice  behind  them.  And  there  was  the 
princess  again. 

"  Serpent,"  thought  Frau  von  Treumann ;  but 
what  is  the  use  of  thinking  serpent  ?  She  had  to 
submit  to  being  consoled  all  the  same,  while  Anna 
walked  away. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

Anna  seemed  always  to  be  walking  away  during 
the  days  that  separated  Karlchen's  first  visit  from 
his  second.  Frau  von  Treumann  noticed  it  with 
some  uneasiness,  and  hoped  that  it  was  only  her 
fancy.  The  girl  had  shown  herself  possessed  of 
such  an  abnormally  large  and  warm  heart  at  first, 
had  been  so  eager  in  her  offers  of  affection,  so  en- 
thusiastic, so  sympathetic,  so  —  well,  absurd ;  was 
it  possible  that  there  was  no  warmth  and  no  affec- 
tion left  over  from  those  vast  stores  for  such  a 
good-looking,  agreeable  man  as  Karlchen  ?  But 
she  set  such  thoughts  aside  as  ridiculous.  Her 
son's  simple  doctrine  from  his  fourteenth  year  on 
had  been  that  all  girls  like  all  men.  It  had  often 
been  laid  down  by  him  in  their  talks  together,  and 
her  own  experience  of  girls  had  sufficiently  proved 
its  soundness.  "  The  Penheim  must  have  poisoned 
her  mind  against  him,"  she  decided  at  last,  unable 
otherwise  to  explain  the  apathy  with  which  Anna 
received  any  news  of  Karlchen.  Was  there  ever 
such  sheer  spite  ?  For  what  could  it  matter  to  a 
woman  with  no  son  of  her  own,  who  married  Anna  ? 
Somebody  would  marry  her,  for  certain,  and  the 
Penheim  would  lose  her  place ;  then  why  should 
it  not  be  Karlchen  ? 

The  princess,  however,  most  innocent  of  excel- 
lent women,  had  never  spoken  privately  to  Anna 
of  Karlchen  except  once,  when  she  inquired 
u  289 


290  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

whether  he  were  to  have  the  best  sheets  on  his 
bed,  or  the  second  best  sheets ;  and  Anna  had 
repHed,  "  The  worst." 

But  If  Frau  von  Treumann  was  uneasy  about 
Anna,  Anna  was  still  more  uneasy  about  Frau 
von  Treumann.     Whenever  she  could,  she  went 
away  into  the  forest  and  tried  to  think  things  out. 
She  objected  very  much  to  the  feeling  that  life 
seemed  somehow  to  be  thickening  round  her  — 
yet,  after  Karlchen's  visit  there  it  was.     Each  day 
there  were  fewer  and  fewer  quiet  pauses  in  the 
trivial   bustle  of   existence;    clear  moments,  like 
windows  through  which  she  caught  glimpses  of 
the  serene  tranquillity  with  which  the  real  day, 
nature's  day,  the  day  she  ought  to  have  had,  was 
passing.     Frau  von  Treumann  followed  her  about 
and  talked  to  her  of  Karlchen.     Fraulein  Kuh- 
rauber  followed   her  about,  with  a  humble,  dog- 
like affection,  and    seemed  to  want  to  tell  her 
something,  and  never  got  further  than  dark  utter- 
ances that  perplexed  her.     Baroness  Elmreich  re- 
pulsed all  her  advances,  carefully  called  her  Miss 
Estcourt,  and  made  acid  comments  on  everything 
that  was  said  and  done.     "  I  believe  she  dislikes 
me,"  thought  Anna,  puzzled.     "  I  wonder  why?  " 
The  baroness  did ;  and  the  reason  was  simplicity 
itself.     She  disliked  her  because  she  was  younger, 
prettier,  richer,  healthier  than  herself.     For  this 
she  disliked   her   heartily;   but  with  far  greater 
heartiness  did  she  dislike  her  because  she  knew 
she  ought  to  be  grateful  to  her.     The  baroness 
detested  having  to  feel  grateful — it  is  a  detesta- 
tion   not    confined   to  baronesses  —  and   in  this 
case  the  burden  of  the  obligations  she  was  under 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  291 

was  so  great  that  it  was  almost  past  endurance. 
And  there  was  no  escape.  She  had  been  starv- 
ing when  Anna  took  her  in,  and  she  would  starve 
again  if  Anna  turned  her  out.  She  owed  her 
everything ;  and  what  more  natural,  then,  than  to 
dislike  her  ?  The  rarest  of  loves  is  the  love  of  a 
debtor  for  his  creditor. 

At  night,  alone  in  her  room,  Anna  would  won- 
der at  the  day  lived  through,  at  the  unsatisfactori- 
ness  of  it,  and  the  emptiness.  When  were  they 
going  to  begin  the  better  life,  the  soul  to  soul 
life  she  was  waiting  for?  How  busy  they  had  all 
been,  and  what  had  they  done  ?  Why,  nothing. 
A  little  aimless  talking,  a  little  aimless  sewing,  a 
little  aimless  walking  about,  a  few  letters  to  write 
that  need  not  have  been  written,  a  newspaper  to 
glance  into  that  did  not  really  interest  anybody, 
meals  in  rapid  succession,  night,  and  oblivion. 
That  was  what  was  on  the  surface.  What  w^as 
beneath  the  surface  she  could  only  guess  at ;  for 
after  a  whole  fortnight  with  the  Chosen  she  was 
still  confronted  solely  by  surfaces.  In  the  hot  for- 
est, drowsy  and  aromatic,  where  the  white  butter- 
flies, like  points  of  light  among  the  shadows  of  the 
pine-trunks,  fluttered  up  and  down  the  unending 
avenues  all  day  long,  she  wandered,  during  the 
afternoon  hour  when  the  Chosen  napped,  to  the 
most  out-of-the-way  nooks  she  could  find ;  and 
sitting  on  the  moss  where  she  could  see  some 
special  bit  of  loveliness,  some  distant  radiant 
meadow  in  the  sunlight  beyond  the  trees,  some 
bush  with  its  delicate  green  shower  of  budding 
leaves  at  the  foot  of  a  giant  pine,  some  exquisite 
effect  of  blue  and  white  between  the  branches  so 


292  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

far  above  her  head,  she  would  ponder  and  ponder 
till  she  was  weary. 

There  was  no  mistaking  Karlchen's  looks ;  she 
had  not  been  a  pretty  girl  for  several  seasons  at 
home  in  vain.  Karlchen  meant  to  marry  her.  She, 
of  course,  did  not  mean  to  marry  Karlchen,  but  that 
did  not  smooth  any  of  the  ruggedness  out  of  the 
path  she  saw  opening  before  her.  She  would  have 
to  endure  the  preliminary  blandishments  of  the 
wooing,  and  when  the  wooing  itself  had  reached 
the  state  of  ripeness  which  would  enable  her  to  let 
him  know  plainly  her  own  intentions,  there  would 
be  a  grievous  number  of  scenes  to  be  gone  through 
with  his  mother.  And  then  his  mother  would  shake 
the  Kleinwalde  dust  from  her  offended  feet  and  go, 
and  failure  number  one  would  be  upon  her.  In  the 
innermost  recesses  of  her  heart,  offensive  as  Karl- 
chen's wooing  would  certainly  be,  she  thought  that 
once  it  was  over  it  would  not  have  been  a  bad 
thing ;  for,  since  his  visit,  it  was  clear  that  Frau 
von  Treumann  was  not  the  sort  of  inmate  she  had 
dreamed  of  for  her  home  for  the  unhappy.  Un- 
happy she  had  undoubtedly  been,  poor  thing,  but 
happy  with  Anna  she  would  never  be.  She  had 
forgiven  the  first  fibs  the  poor  lady  had  told  her, 
but  she  could  not  go  on  forgiving  fibs  for  ever. 
All  those  elaborate  untruths,  written  and  spoken, 
about  Karlchen's  visit,  how  dreadful  they  were. 
Surely,  thought  Anna,  truthfulness  was  not  only 
a  lovely  and  a  pleasant  thing  but  it  was  absolutely 
indispensable  as  the  basis  to  a  real  friendship. 
How  could  any  soul  approach  another  soul  through 
a  network  of  lies }  And  then  more  painful  still  — 
she  confessed  with  shame  that  it  was  more  painful 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  293 

to  her  even  than  the  Hes  —  Frau  von  Treumann 
evidently  took  her  for  a  fool.  Not  merely  for  a 
person  wanting  in  intelligence,  or  slow-witted,  but 
for  a  downright  fool.  She  must  think  so,  or  she 
would  have  taken  more  pains,  at  least  some  pains, 
to  make  her  schemes  a  little  less  transparent.  Anna 
hated  herself  for  feeling  mortified  by  this ;  but  mor- 
tified she  certainly  was.  Even  a  philosopher  does 
not  like  to  be  honestly  mistaken  during  an  entire 
fortnight  for  a  fool.  Though  he  may  smile,  he 
will  almost  surely  wince.  Not  being  a  philosopher, 
Anna  winced  and  did  not  smile. 

"  I  think,"  she  said  to  Manske,  when  he  came 
in  one  morning  with  a  list  of  selected  applications, 
"  I  think  we  will  wait  a  little  before  choosing  the 
other  nine." 

"  The  gracious  one  is  not  weary  of  well-doing  ?  '* 
he  asked  quickly. 

"  Oh  no,  not  at  all ;  I  like  well-doing,"  Anna 
said  rather  lamely,  "  but  it  is  not  quite  —  not  quite 
as  simple  as  it  looks." 

"  I  have  found  nine  most  deserving  cases,"  he 
urged,  "  and  later  there  may  not  be " 

"  No,  no,"  interrupted  Anna,  "  we  will  wait.  In 
the  autumn,  perhaps  —  not  now.  First  I  must 
make  the  ones  who  are  here  happy.  You  know," 
she  said,  smiling,  "  they  came  here  to  be  made 
happy." 

"  Yes,  truly  I  know  it.  And  happy  indeed  must 
they  be  in  this  home,  surrounded  by  all  that  makes 
life  fair  and  desirable." 

"  One  would  think  so,"  said  Anna,  musing.  "  It 
is  pretty  here,  isn't  it  —  it  should  be  easy  to  be 
happy  here,  —  yet  I  am  not  sure  that  they  are." 


294  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Not  sure ?  "  Manske  looked  at  her,  star- 
tled. 

"  What  do  people  —  most  people,  ordinary  peo- 
ple, need,  to  make  them  happy  ?  "  she  asked  wist- 
fully. She  was  speaking  to  herself  more  than  to 
him,  and  did  not  expect  any  very  illuminating 
answer. 

"  The  fear  of  the  Lord,"  he  replied  promptly ; 
which  put  an  end  to  the  conversation. 

But  besides  her  perplexities  about  the  Chosen, 
Anna  had  other  worries.  Dellwig  had  received  the 
refusal  to  let  him  build  the  brick-kiln  with  such 
insolence,  and  had,  in  his  anger,  said  such  extraor- 
dinary things  about  Axel  Lohm,  that  Anna  had 
blazed  out  too,  and  had  told  him  he  must  go.  It 
had  been  an  unpleasant  scene,  and  she  had  come 
out  from  it  white  and  trembling.  She  had  in- 
tended to  ask  Axel  to  do  the  dismissing  for  her 
if  she  should  ever  definitely  decide  to  send  him 
away ;  but  she  had  been  overwhelmed  by  a  sudden 
passion  of  wrath  at  the  man's  intolerable  insinua- 
tions—  only  half  understood,  but  sounding  for 
that  reason  worse  than  they  were  —  and  had  done 
it  herself.  Since  then  she  had  not  seen  him.  By 
the  agreement  her  uncle  had  made  with  him,  he 
was  entitled  to  six  months'  notice,  and  would  not 
leave  until  the  winter,  and  she  knew  she  could 
not  continue  to  refuse  to  see  him ;  but  how  she 
dreaded  the  next  interview!  And  how  uneasy 
she  felt  at  the  thought  that  the  management  of 
her  estate  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  a  man 
who  must  now  be  her  enemy.  Axel  was  equally 
anxious,  when  he  heard  what  she  had^  done.  ^  It 
had  to  be  done,  of  course ;   but  he  did  not  like 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  295 

Dellwig's  looks  when  he  met  him.  He  asked 
Anna  to  allow  him  to  ride  round  her  place  as 
often  as  he  could,  and  she  was  grateful  to  him, 
for  she  knew  that  not  only  her  own  existence,  but 
the  existence  of  her  poor  friends,  depended  on  the 
right  cultivation  of  Kleinwalde.  And  she  was  so 
helpless.  What  creature  on  earth  could  be  more 
helpless  than  an  English  girl  in  her  position  ? 
She  left  off  reading  Maeterlinck,  borrowed  books 
on  farming  from  Axel,  and  eagerly  studied  them, 
learning  by  heart  before  breakfast  long  pages  con- 
cerning the  peculiarities  of  her  two  chief  products, 
potatoes  and  pigs. 

"He  cannot  do  much  harm,"  Axel  assured  her; 
"  the  potatoes,  I  see,  are  all  in,  and  what  can  he 
do  to  the  pigs  ?  His  own  vanity  would  prevent 
his  leaving  the  place  in  a  bad  state.  I  have  heard 
of  a  good  man  —  shall  I  have  him  down  and  inter- 
view him  for  you  ?  " 

"  How  kind  you  are,"  said  Anna  gratefully ; 
indeed,  he  seemed  to  her  to  be  a  tower  of  strength. 

"  Anyone  would  do  what  they  could  to  help  a 
forlorn  young  lady  in  the  straits  you  are  in,"  he 
said,  smiling  at  her. 

"  I  don't  feel  like  a  forlorn  young  lady  with  you 
next  door  to  help  me  out  of  the  difficulties." 

"  People  in  these  lonely  country  places  learn  to 
be  neighbourly,"  he  replied  in  his  most  measured 
tones. 

He  had  not  again  spoken  of  the  Chosen  since 
his  walk  with  her  through  the  forest ;  and  though 
he  knew  that  Karlchen  had  been  and  gone  he  did 
not  mention  his  name.  Nor  did  Anna.  The 
longer  she  lived  with  her  sisters  the  less  did  she 


296  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

care  to  talk  about  them,  especially  to  Axel.  As 
for  Frau  von  Treumann's  plans,  how  could  she 
ever  tell  him  of  those  ? 

And  just  then  Letty,  the  only  being  who  was 
really  satisfactory,  became  a  cause  to  her  of  fresh 
perplexity.  Letty  had  been  strangely  content  with 
her  German  lessons  from  Herr  Klutz.  Every  day 
she  and  Miss  Leech  set  out  without  a  murmur, 
and  came  back  looking  placid.  They  brought 
back  little  offerings  from  the  parsonage,  a  bunch 
of  narcissus,  the  first  lilac,  cakes  baked  by  Frau 
Manske,  always  something.  Anna  took  the  flow- 
ers, and  ate  the  cakes,  and  sent  pleased  messages 
in  return.  If  she  had  been  less  preoccupied  by 
Dellwig  and  the  eccentricities  of  her  three  new 
friends,  she  would  certainly  have  been  struck  by 
Letty 's  silence  about  her  lessons,  and  would  have 
questioned  her.  There  was  no  grumbling  after 
the  first  day,  and  no  abuse  of  Schiller  and  the 
muses.  Once  Anna  met  Klutz  walking  through 
Kleinwalde,  and  asked  him  how  the  studies  were 
progressing.  "  Colossal,"  was  the  reply,  "  the 
progress  made  is  colossal."  And  he  crushed 
her  rings  into  her  fingers  when  she  gave  him  her 
hand  to  shake,  and  blushed,  and  looked  at  her 
with  eyes  that  he  felt  must  burn  into  her  soul. 
But  Anna  noticed  neither  his  eyes  nor  his  blush ; 
for  his  eyes,  whatever  he  might  feel  them  to  be 
doing,  were  not  the  kind  that  burn  into  souls,  and 
he  was  a  pale  young  man  who,  when  he  blushed, 
did  it  only  in  his  ears.  They  certainly  turned 
crimson  as  he  crushed  Anna's  fingers,  but  she 
was  not  thinking  of  his  ears. 

"  Frau    Manske  is  too  kind,"  she  said,  as  the 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  297 

nosegays,  at  first  intermittent,  became  things  of 
daily  occurrence.  They  grew  bigger,  too,  every 
day,  attaining  such  a  girth  at  last  that  Letty  could 
hardly  carry  them.  "  She  must  not  plunder  her 
garden  like  this." 

"  It  is  very  full  of  flowers,"  said  Miss  Leech. 
"  Really  a  wonderful  display.  The  bunch  is 
always  ready,  tied  together  and  lying  on  the  table 
when  we  arrive.  I  tried  to  tell  her  yesterday  that 
you  were  afraid  she  was  spoiling  her  garden,  send- 
ing so  much,  but  she  did  not  seem  to  understand. 
She  is  showing  me  how  to  make  those  cakes  you 
said  you  liked." 

"  I  wish  I  had  some  of  these  in  my  garden," 
said  Anna,  laying  her  cheek  against  the  posy  of 
wallflowers  Letty  had  just  given  her.  There  was 
nothing  in  her  garden  except  grass  and  trees ; 
Uncle  Joachim  had  not  been  a  man  of  flowers. 

She  took  them  up  to  her  room,  kissing  them  on 
the  way,  and  put  them  in  a  jar  on  the  window-sill ; 
and  it  was  not  until  two  or  three  days  later,  when 
they  began  to  fade,  that  she  saw  the  corner  of  an 
envelope  peeping  out  from  among  them.  She 
pulled  it  out  and  opened  it.  It  was  addressed  to 
Ihr  Hochwohlgebore7t  Frdulei7i  A}ina  Estcourt; 
and  inside  was  a  sheet  of  notepaper  with  a  large 
red  heart  painted  on  it,  mangled,  and  pierced  by 
an  arrow ;  and  below  it  the  following  poem  in  a 
cramped,  hardly  readable  writing :  — 

The  earth  am  I,  and  thou  the  heaven, 
The  mass  am  I,  and  thou  the  ieaven, 

No  other  heaven  do  I  want  but  thee, 
Oh  Anna,  Anna,  Anna,  pity  me  ! 

August  Klutz,  Kandidat. 


298  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

In  an  instant  Letty's  unnatural  cheerfulness  about 
her  lessons  flashed  across  her.  What  had  they 
been  doing,  and  where  was  Miss  Leech,  that  such 
things  could  happen  ? 

It  was  a  very  terrible,  stern-browed  aunt  who 
met  Letty  that  day  on  the  stairs  when  she  came 
home. 

"Hullo,  Aunt  Anna,  seen  a  ghost .f^"  Letty 
inquired  pleasantly ;  but  her  heart  sank  into  her 
boots  all  the  same  as  she  followed  her  into  her 
room. 

"  Look,"  said  Anna,  showing  her  the  paper, 
"  how  could  you  do  it }  For  of  course  you  did  it. 
Herr  Klutz  doesn't  speak  English." 

"  Doesn't  he  though  —  he  gets  on  like  anything. 
He  sits  up  all  night " 

"  How  is  it  that  this  was  possible }  "  interrupted 
Anna,  striking  the  paper  with  her  hand. 

"  It's  pretty,  isn't  it,"  said  Letty,  faintly  grinning. 
"  The  last  line  had  to  be  changed  a  little.  It  isn't 
original,  you  know,  except  the  Annas.  I  put  in 
those.  That  footman  mother  got  cheap  because 
he  had  one  finger  too  few  sent  it  to  Hilton  on  her 
birthday  last  year  —  she  liked  it  awfully.  The 
last  line  was  '  Oh   Hilton,  Hilton,  Hilton '" 

"  How  came  you  to  talk  such  hideous  nonsense 
with  Herr  Klutz,  and  about  me  ?  " 

"  I  didn't.  He  began.  He  talked  about  you 
the  whole  time,  and  started  doing  it  the  very  first 
day  Leechy  cooked." 

"Cooked.?" 

"  She  is  always  in  the  kitchen  with  Frau  Manske. 
We  brought  you  some  of  the  cakes  one  day,  and 
you  seemed  as  pleased  as  anything." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  299 

"  And  instead  of  learning  German  you  and  he 
have  been  making  up  this  sort  of  thing  ? " 

Anna's  voice  and  eyes  frightened  Letty.  She 
shifted  from  one  foot  to  the  other  and  looked  down 
sullenly.  "  What's  the  good  of  being  angry  ?  "  she 
said,  addressing  the  carpet ;  "  it's  only  Mr.  Jessup 
over  again.  Leechy  wasn't  angry  with  Mr.  Jessup. 
She  was  frightfully  pleased.  She  says  it's  the 
greatest  compliment  a  person  can  pay  anybody, 
going  on  about  them  like  Herr  Klutz  does,  and 
talking  rot." 

Anna  stared  at  her,  bewildered.  "  Mr.  Jessup  ? " 
she  repeated.  "  And  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that 
Miss  Leech  knows  of  this  —  this  disgusting  non- 
sense ? "  She  held  the  mangled  heart  at  arm's 
length,  crushing  it  in  her  hand. 

"  I  say,  you'll  spoil  it.  He  worked  at  it  for  days. 
There  weren't  any  paints  red  enough  for  the 
wound,  and  he  had  to  go  to  Stralsund  on  purpose. 
He  thought  no  end  of  it."  And  Letty,  scared 
though  she  was,  could  not  resist  giggling  a  little. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  Miss  Leech 
knows  about  this  ?  "   insisted  Anna. 

"  Rather  not.  It's  a  secret.  He  made  me 
promise  faithfully  never  to  tell  a  soul.  Of  course 
it  doesn't  matter  talking  to  you,  because  you're 
one  of  the  persons  concerned.  You  can't  be  mar- 
ried, you  know,  without  knowing  about  it,  so  I'm 
not  breaking  my  promise  talking  to  you " 

"  Married  ?  What  unutterable  rubbish  have  you 
got  into  your  head  ?  " 

"  That's  what  I  said  —  or  something  like  it.  I 
said  it  was  jolly  rot.  He  said,  'What's  rot?'  I 
said  '  That.' " 


300  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  But  what  ?  "  asked  Anna  angrily.  She  longed 
to  shake  her. 

"  Why,  that  about  marrying  you.  I  told  him  it 
was  rot,  and  I  was  sure  you  wouldn't,  but  as  he 
didn't  know  what  rot  was,  it  wasn't  much  good. 
He  hunted  it  out  in  the  dictionary,  and  still  he 
didn't  know." 

Anna  stood  looking  at  her  with  indignant  eyes. 
"  You  don't  know  what  you  have  done,"  she  said, 
"  evidently  you  don't.  It  is  a  dreadful  thing  that 
the  moment  Miss  Leech  leaves  you  you  should 
begin  to  talk  of  such  things  —  such  horrid  things 
—  with  a  stranger.     A  little  girl  of  your  age " 

"  I  didn't  begin,"  whimpered  Letty,  overcome 
by  the  wrath  in  Anna's  voice. 

"  But  all  this  time  you  have  been  going  on  with 
it,    instead    of    at    once   telling    Miss    Leech    or 


5) 

me. 


"  I  never  met  a  —  a  lover  before  —  I  thought  it 
—  great  fun." 

"  Then  all  those  flowers  were  from  him  ?  " 

"Ye  —  es."     Letty  was  in  tears. 

"  He  thought  I  knew  they  were  from  him  ? " 

No  answer. 

"  Did  he  ?  "  insisted  Anna. 

"Ye  — es." 

"  You  are  a  very  wicked  little  girl,"  said  Anna, 
with  awful  sternness.  "  You  have  been  acting 
untruths  every  day  for  ages,  which  is  just  as  bad 
as  teUing  them.  I  don't  believe  you  have  an  idea 
of  the  horridness  of  what  you  have  done  —  I  hope 
you  have  not.  Of  course  your  lessons  at  Lohm 
have  come  to  an  end.  You  will  not  go  there 
again.     Probably  I  shall  send  you  home  to  your 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  301 

mother.  I  am  nearly  sure  that  I  shall.  Go 
away."     And  she  pointed  to  the  door. 

That  night  neither  Letty  nor  Miss  Leech  ap- 
peared at  supper;  both  were  shut  up  in  their 
rooms  in  tears.  Miss  Leech  was  quite  unable  to 
forgive  herself.  It  was  all  her  fault,  she  felt. 
She  had  been  appalled  when  Anna  showed  her 
the  heart  and  told  her  what  had  been  going  on 
while  she  was  learning  to  cook  in  Frau  Manske's 
kitchen.  "Such  a  quiet,  respectable -looking 
young  man ! "  she  exclaimed,  horror-stricken. 
"  And  about  to  take  holy  orders ! " 

"  Well,  you  see  he  isn't  quiet  and  respectable 
at  all,"  said  Anna.  "  He  is  unusually  enterpris- 
ing, and  quite  without  morals.  Only  a  demoral- 
ised person  would  take  advantage  of  a  poor  little 
pupil  in  that  way." 

She  lit  a  candle,  and  burnt  the  heart.  "  There," 
she  said,  when  it  was  in  ashes,  "that's  the  end  of 
that.  Heaven  knows  what  Letty  has  been  led 
into  saying,  or  what  ideas  he  has  put  into  her 
head.  I  can't  bear  to  think  of  it.  I  hadn't  the 
courage  to  cross-question  her  much  —  I  was  afraid 
I  should  hear  something  that  would  make  me 
too  angry,  and  I'd  have  to  tell  the  parson.  Any- 
how, dear  Miss  Leech,  we  will  not  leave  her  alone 
again,  ever,  will  we }  I  don't  suppose  a  thing  like 
this  will  happen  twice,  but  we  won't  let  it  have  a 
chance,  will  we?  Now  don't  be  too  unhappy. 
Tell  me  about  Mr.  Jessup." 

It  was  Miss  Leech's  fault,  Anna  knew;  but  she 
so  evidently  knew  it  herself,  and  was  so  deeply 
distressed,  that  rebukes  were  out  of  the  question. 
She  spent  the  evening  and  most  of  the  night  in 


302  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

useless  laments,  while,  in  the  room  adjoining, 
Letty  lay  face  downwards  on  her  bed,  bathed  in 
tears.  For  Letty's  conscience  was  in  a  grievous 
state  of  tumult.  She  had  meant  well,  and  she  had 
done  badly.  She  had  not  thought  her  aunt  would 
be  angry  —  was  she  not  in  full  possession  of  the 
facts  concerning  Mr.  Jessup's  courtship?  And 
had  not  Miss  Leech  said  that  no  higher  honour 
could  be  paid  to  a  woman  than  to  fall  in  love  with 
her  and  make  her  an  offer  of  marriage  ?  Herr 
Klutz,  it  is  true,  was  not  the  sort  of  person  her 
aunt  could  marry,  for  her  aunt  was  stricken  in 
years,  and  he  looked  about  the  same  age  as  her 
brother  Peter;  besides,  he  was  clearly,  thought 
Letty,  of  the  guttersnipe  class,  a  class  that  bit  its 
nails  and  never  married  people's  aunts.  But,  after 
all,  her  aunt  could  always  say  No  when  the  su- 
preme moment  arrived,  and  nobody  ought  to  be 
offended  because  they  had  been  fallen  in  love 
with,  and  he  was  frightfully  in  love,  and  talked 
the  most  awful  rot.  Nor  had  she  encouraged 
him.  On  the  contrary,  she  had  discouraged 
him ;  but  it  was  precisely  this  discouragement,  so 
virtuously  administered,  that  lay  so  heavily  on 
her  conscience  as  she  lay  so  heavily  on  her  bed. 
She  had  been  proud  of  it  till  this  interview  with 
her  aunt ;  since  then  it  had  taken  on  a  different 
complexion,  and  she  was  sure,  dreadfully  sure, 
that  if  her  aunt  knew  of  it  she  would  be  very 
angry  indeed — much,  much  angrier  than  she  was 
before.  Letty  rolled  on  her  bed  in  torments  ;  for 
the  discouragement  administered  to  Klutz  had 
been  in  the  form  of  poetry,  and  poetry  written  on 
her  aunt's  notepaper,  and  purporting  to  come  from 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  303 

her.  She  had  meant  so  well,  and  what  had  she 
done  ?  When  no  answer  came  by  return  to  his 
poem  hidden  in  the  wallflowers,  he  had  refused 
to  believe  that  the  bouquet  had  reached  its  desti- 
nation. "  There  has  been  treachery,"  he  cried ; 
"  you  have  played  me  false."  And  he  seemed  to 
fold  up  with  affliction. 

"  I  gave  it  to  her  all  right.  She  hasn't  found 
the  letter  yet,"  said  Letty,  tr}ang  to  comfort,  and 
astonished  by  the  loudness  of  his  grief.  "  It's  all 
right  —  you  wait  a  bit.  She  liked  the  flowers 
awiully,  and  kissed  them." 

"  Poor  young  lover,"  she  thought  romantically, 
"  his  heart  must  not  bleed  too  much.  Aunt  Anna, 
if  she  ever  does  find  the  letter,  will  only  send  him 
a  rude  answer.  I  will  answer  it  for  her,  and  gently 
discourage  him."  For  if  the  words  that  proceeded 
from  Letty's  mouth  were  inelegant,  her  thoughts, 
whenever  they  dwelt  on  either  Mr.  Jessup  or  Herr 
Klutz,  were  invariably  clothed  in  the  tender  lan- 
guage of  sentiment. 

And  she  had  sat  up  till  very  late,  composing  a 
poem  whose  mission  was  both  to  discourage  and 
console.  It  cost  her  infinite  pains,  but  when  it 
was  finished  she  felt  that  it  had  been  worth  them 
all.  She  copied  it  out  in  capital  letters  on  Anna's 
notepaper,  folded  it  up  carefully,  and  tied  it  with 
one  of  her  own  hair-ribbons  to  a  little  bunch  of 
lilies-of-the-valley  she  had  gathered  for  the  purpose 
in  the  forest. 

This  was  the  poem :  — 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret 

That  circumstances  won't 
Allow  me  to  call  thee  my  pet, 

But  as  it  is  they  don't. 


304  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

For  why  ?     My  many  years  forbid, 
And  likewise  thy  position. 

So  take  advice,  and  strive  amid 
Thy  tears  for  meek  submission. 


Anna. 


And  this  poem  was,  at  that  very  moment,  as  she 
well  knew,  in  Herr  Klutz's  waistcoat  pocket. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

The  ordinary  young  man,  German  or  otherwise, 
hungrily  emerging  from  boyhood  into  a  toothsome 
world  made  to  be  eaten,  cures  himself  of  his  appe- 
tite by  indulging  it  till  he  is  ill,  and  then  on  a 
firm  foundation  of  his  own  foolish  corpse,  or,  as 
the  poet  puts  it,  of  his  dead  self,  begins  to  build 
up  the  better  things  of  his  later  years. 

Klutz  was  an  ordinary  young  man,  and  arrived 
at  early  manhood  as  hungry  as  his  fellows ;  but 
his  father  was  a  parson,  his  grandfather  had  been 
a  parson,  his  uncles  were  all  parsons,  and  Fate, 
coming  cruelly  to  him  in  the  gloomy  robes  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  his  natural  follies  had  had 
no  opportunity  of  getting  out,  developing,  and 
dissolving,  but  remained  shut  up  in  his  heart, 
where  they  amused  themselves  by  seething  unin- 
terruptedly, to  his  great  discomfort,  while  the  good 
parson,  in  whose  care  he  was,  talked  to  him  of  the 
world  to  come. 

"  The  world  to  come,"  thought  Klutz,  hunger- 
ing and  thirsting  for  a  taste  of  the  world  in  which 
he  was,  "  may  or  may  not  be  very  well  in  its  way ; 
but  its  way  is  not  my  way."  And  he  listened  in 
a  silence  that  might  be  taken  either  for  awed 
or  bored  to  Manske's  expatiations.  Manske,  of 
course,  interpreted  it  as  awed.  "  Our  young 
vicar,"  he  said  to  his  wife,  "  thinks  much.  He  is 
serious  and  contemplative  beyond  his  years.  He 
X  305 


3o6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

is  not  a  man  of  many  and  vain  words."    To  which 
his  vife  replied  only  by  a  sniff  of  scepticism. 

Sije  had  no  direct  proofs  that  Klutz  was  not 
serious  and  contemplative,  but  during  his  first 
winter  in  their  house  he  had  fallen  into  her  bad 
graces  because  of  a  certain  indelicately  apprecia- 
tive attitude  he  displayed  towards  her  apple  jelly. 
Not  that  she  grudged  him  apple  jelly  in  just 
quantities ;  both  she  and  her  husband  were  fond 
of  it,  and  the  eating  of  it  was  luckily  one  of  those 
pleasures  whose  indulgence  is  innocent.  But 
there  are  limits  beyond  which  even  jelly  becomes 
vicious,  and  these  limits  Herr  Klutz  continually 
overstepped.  Every  autumn  she  made  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  pots  of  it  to  last  discreet  appe- 
tites a  whole  year.  There  had  always  been  vicars 
in  their  house,  and  there  had  never  been  a  dearth 
of  jelly.  But  this  year,  so  early  as  Easter,  there 
were  only  two  pots  left.  She  could  not  conven- 
iently lock  it  up  and  refuse  to  produce  any,  for 
then  she  and  her  husband  would  not  have  it  them- 
selves ;  so  all  through  the  winter  she  had  watched 
the  pots  being  emptied  one  after  the  other,  and 
the  thinner  the  rows  in  her  storeroom  grew,  the 
more  pronounced  became  her  conviction  that 
Klutz's  piety  was  but  skin  deep.  A  young  man 
who  could  behave  in  so  unbridled  a  fashion 
could  not  be  really  serious ;  there  was  something, 
she  thought,  that  smacked  suspiciously  of  the 
flesh  and  the  devil  about  such  conduct.  Great, 
then,  was  her  astonishment  when,  the  penultimate 
pot  being  placed  at  Easter  on  the  table.  Klutz 
turned  from  it  with  loathing.  Nor  did  he  ever 
look  at   apple  jelly  again ;  nor  did   he,  of  other 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  307 

viands,  eat  enough  to  keep  him  in  health.  He 
who  had  been  so  voracious  forgot  his  meals,  and 
had  to  be  coaxed  before  he  would  eat  at  all.  He 
spent  his  spare  time  writing,  sitting  up  sometimes 
all  night,  and  consuming  candles  at  the  same  head- 
long rate  with  which  he  had  previously  consumed 
the  jelly ;  and  when  towards  May  her  husband 
once  more  commented  on  his  seriousness,  Frau 
Manske's  conscience  no  longer  permitted  her  to 
sniff. 

"  You  must  be  ill,"  she  said  to  him  at  last,  on 
a  day  when  he  had  sat  through  the  meals  in 
silence  and  had  refused  to  eat  at  all. 

"  111 !  "  burst  out  Klutz,  whose  body  and  soul 
seemed  both  to  be  in  one  fierce  blaze  of  fever,  "  I 
am  sick  —  sick  even  unto  death." 

And  he  did  feel  sick.  Only  two  days  had  elapsed 
since  he  had  received  Anna's  poem  and  had  been 
thrown  by  it  into  a  tumult  of  delight  and  triumph ; 
forthe  discouragement  it  contained  had  but  encour- 
aged him  the  more,  appearing  to  be  merely  the 
becoming  self-depreciation  of  a  woman  before  him 
who  has  been  by  nature  appointed  lord.  He  was 
perfectly  ready  to  overlook  the  obstacles  to  their 
union  to  which  she  alluded.  She  could  not  help 
her  years  ;  there  were,  truly,  more  of  them  than  he 
would  have  wished,  but  luckily  they  were  not  vis- 
ible on  that  still  lovely  face.  As  to  position,  he 
supposed  she  meant  that  he  was  not  adelig;  but 
a  man,  he  reflected,  compared  to  a  woman,  is 
always  adelig,  whatever  his  name  may  be,  by 
virtue  of  his  higher  and  nobler  nature.  He  had 
been  for  rushing  at  once  to  Kleinwalde ;  but  his 
pupil  and  confidant  had  said  "  Don't,"  and    had 


3o8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

said  it  with  such  energy  that  for  that  day  at  least 
he  had  resisted.  And  now,  the  very  morning  of 
the  day  on  which  the  Frau  Pastor  was  asking  him 
whether  he  were  ill,  he  had  received  a  curt  note 
from  Miss  Leech,  informing  him  that  Miss  Letty 
Estcourt  would  for  the  present  discontinue  her 
German  studies.  What  had  happened?  Even 
the  poem,  lying  warm  on  his  heart,  was  not  able 
to  dispel  his  fears.  He  had  flown  at  once  to 
Kleinwalde,  feeling  that  it  was  absurd  not  to 
follow  the  dictates  of  his  heart  and  cast  himself 
in  person  at  Anna's  no  doubt  expectant  feet,  and 
the  door  had  been  shut  in  his  face  —  rudely  shut, 
by  a  coarse  servant,  whose  manner  had  so  much 
enraged  him  that  he  had  almost  shown  her  the 
precious  verses  then  and  there,  to  convince  her 
of  his  importance  in  that  house ;  indeed,  the  only 
consideration  that  restrained  him  was  a  conviction 
of  her  ignorance  of  the  English  tongue. 

"  Would  you  like  to  see  the  doctor  ? "  inquired 
Frau  Manske,  startled  by  his  looks  and  words; 
perhaps  he  had  caught  something  infectious ; 
an  infectious  vicar  in  the  house  would  be 
horrible. 

"The  doctor!"  cried  Klutz;  and  forthwith 
quoted  the  German  rendering  of  the  six  lines 
beginning.  Canst  thou  not  minister  to  a  mind 
diseased. 

Frau  Manske  was  seriously  alarmed.  Not  aware 
that  he  was  quoting,  she  was  horrified  to  hear  him 
calling  her  Bii,  a  privilege  confined  to  lovers,  hus- 
bands, and  near  relations,  and  asking  her  questions 
that  she  was  sure  no  decent  vicar  would  ever  ask 
the  respectable  mother  of  a  family.     "  I  am  sure 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  309 

you  ought  to  see  the  doctor,"  she  said  nen^ously, 
getting  up  hastily  and  going  to  the  door. 

"  No,  no,"  said  Klutz ;  "  the  doctor  does  not  exist 
who  can  help  me." 

His  hand  went  to  the  breast-pocket  containing 
the  poem,  and  he  fingered  it  feverishly.  He  longed 
to  show  it  to  Frau  Manske,  to  translate  it  for  her, 
to  let  her  see  what  the  young  Kleinwalde  lady, 
joint  patron  with  Herr  von  Lohm  of  her  husband's 
living,  thought  of  him. 

"  I  will  ask  my  husband  about  the  doctor,"  per- 
sisted Frau  Manske,  disappearing  with  unusual 
haste.  If  she  had  stayed  one  minute  longer  he 
would  have  shown  her  the  poem. 

Klutz  did  not  wait  to  hear  what  the  pastor  said, 
but  crushed  his  felt  hat  on  to  his  head  and  started 
for  a  violent  walk.  He  would  go  through  Klein- 
walde, past  the  house ;  he  would  haunt  the  woods ; 
he  would  wait  about.  It  was  a  hot,  gusty  May 
afternoon,  and  the  wind  that  had  been  quiet  so 
long  was  blowing  up  the  dust  in  clouds ;  but  he 
hurried  along  regardless  of  heat  and  wind  and 
dust,  with  an  energy  surprising  in  one  who  had 
eaten  nothing  all  day.  Love  had  come  to  him 
very  turbulently.  He  had  been  looking  for  it 
ever  since  he  left  school ;  but  his  watchful  parents 
had  kept  him  in  solitary  places,  empty,  uninhab- 
ited places  like  Lohm,  places  where  the  parson's 
daughters  were  either  married  or  were  still  tied 
on  the  cushions  of  infancy.  Sometimes  he  had 
been  invited,  as  a  great  condescension,  to  the 
Dellwigs'  Sunday  parties;  and  there  too  he  had 
looked  around  for  Love.  But  the  company  con- 
sisted   solely  of   stout   farmers'   wives,   ladies   of 


3IO  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

thirty,  forty,  fifty  —  of  a  dizzy  antiquity,  that  is» 
and  their  talk  was  of  butter-making  and  sausages, 
and  they  cared  not  at  all  for  Love.  "  Oh,  Love, 
Love,  Love,  where  shall  I  find  thee  ? "  he  would 
cry  to  the  stars  on  his  way  home  through  the 
forest  after  these  evenings ;  but  the  stars  twinkled 
coldly  on,  obviously  profoundly  indifferent  as  to 
whether  he  found  it  or  not.  His  chest  of  drawers 
was  full  of  the  poems  into  which  he  had  poured 
the  emotions  of  twenty,  the  emotions  and  long- 
ings that  well-fed,  unoccupied  twenty  mistakes 
for  soul.  And  then  the  English  Miss  had  burst 
upon  his  gaze,  sitting  in  her  carriage  on  that 
stormy  March  day,  smiling  at  him  from  the  very 
first,  piercing  his  heart  through  and  through  with 
eyes  that  many  persons  besides  Klutz  saw  were 
lovely,  and  so  had  he  found  Love,  and  for  ever 
lost  his  interest  in  apple  jelly. 

It  was  a  confident,  bold  Love,  with  more  hopes 
than  fears,  more  assurance  than  misgivings.  The 
poem  seemed  to  burn  his  pocket,  so  violently  did 
he  long  to  show  it  round,  to  tell  everyone  of  his 
good  fortune.  The  lilies-of-the-valley  to  which  it 
had  been  tied  and  that  he  wore  since  all  day  long 
in  his  coat,  were  hardly  brown,  and  yet  he  was 
tired  already  of  having  such  a  secret  to  himself. 
What  advantage  was  there  in  being  told  by  the 
lady  of  Kleinwalde  that  she  regretted  not  being 
able  to  call  him  La7nmchen  or  Sch'dtzchen  (the 
alternative  renderings  his  dictionary  gave  of 
"  pet ")  if  no  one  knew  it  ? 

When  he  reached  the  house  he  walked  past  it 
at  a  snail's  pace,  staring  up  at  the  blank,  repellent 
windows.     Not  a  soul  was  to  be  seen.     He  went 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  311 

on  discontentedly.  What  should  he  do?  The 
door  had  been  shut  in  his  face  once  already  that 
day,  why  he  could  not  imagine.  He  hesitated, 
and  turned  back.  He  would  try  again.  Why 
not?  The  Miss  would  have  scolded  the  servant 
roundly  when  she  heard  that  the  person  who 
dwelt  in  her  thoughts  as  a  Lammchen  had  been 
turned  away.  He  went  boldly  round  the  grass 
plot  in  front  of  the  house  and  knocked. 

The  same  servant  appeared.  Instantly  on  see- 
ing him  she  slammed  the  door,  and  called  out 
"  Nicht  zu  Haus  !  " 

"  Ekelhaftes  Benehme^i !  "  cried  Klutz  aloud, 
flaming  into  sudden  passion.  His  mind,  never 
very  strong,  had  grown  weaker  along  with  his 
body  during  these  exciting  days  of  love  and  fast- 
ing. A  wave  of  fury  swept  over  him  as  he  stood 
before  the  shut  door  and  heard  the  servant  going 
away ;  and  hardly  knowing  what  he  did,  he  seized 
the  knocker,  and  knocked  and  knocked  till  the 
woods  rang. 

There  was  a  sound  of  hurried  footsteps  on  the 
path  behind  him,  and  turning  his  head,  his  hand 
still  knocking,  he  saw  Dellwig  running  towards  him. 

"  Nanu  !  "  cried  Dellwig  breathlessly,  staring  in 
blankest  astonishment.  "  What  in  the  devil's 
name  are  you  making  this  noise  for  ?  Is  the  par- 
son on  fire  ? " 

Klutz  stared  back  in  a  dazed  sort  of  way,  his 
fury  dying  out  at  once  in  the  presence  of  the 
stronger  nature  ;  then,  because  he  was  twenty,  and 
because  he  was  half-starved,  and  because  he  felt 
he  was  being  cruelly  used,  there  on  Anna's  door- 
step, in  the  full  light  of  the  evening  sun,  with 


312  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Dellwig's  eyes  upon  him,  he  burst  into  a  torrent 
of  tears. 

"  Well  of  all  —  what's  wrong  at  Lohm,  you 
great  sheep  ?  "  asked  Dellwig,  seizing  his  arm  and 
giving  him  a  shake. 

Klutz  signified  by  a  movement  of  his  head  that 
nothing  was  wrong  at  Lohm.  He  was  crying  like 
a  baby,  into  a  red  pocket-handkerchief,  and  could 
not  speak. 

Dellwig,  still  gripping  his  arm,  stared  at  him  a 
moment  in  silence ;  then  he  turned  him  round, 
pushed  him  down  the  steps,  and  walked  him  off. 
"  Come  along,  young  man,"  he  said,  "  I  want  some 
explanation  of  this.  If  you  are  mad  you'll  be 
locked  up.  We  don't  fancy  madmen  about  our 
place.  And  if  you're  not  mad  you'll  be  fined  by 
the  Amtsvorsteher  for  disorderly  conduct.  Knock- 
ing like  that  at  a  lady's  door!  I  wonder  you 
didn't  kick  it  in,  while  you  were  about  it.  It's  a 
good  thing  the  Herrschaften  are  out." 

Klutz  really  felt  ill.  He  leaned  on  Dellwig's 
arm  and  let  himself  be  helped  along,  the  energy 
gone  out  of  him  with  the  fury.  "  You  have  never 
loved,"  was  all  he  said,  wiping  his  eyes. 

"  Oh  that's  it,  is  it  t  It  is  love  that  made  you 
want  to  break  the  knocker  .^^  Why  didn't  you  go 
round  to  the  back }  Which  of  them  is  it  ?  The 
cook,  of  course.  You  look  hungry.  A  Kandidat 
crying  after  a  cook  !  "  And  Dellwig  laughed  loud 
and  long. 

"  The  cook !  "  cried  Klutz,  galvanised  by  the 
word  into  life.  "  The  cook  !  "  He  thrust  a  shak- 
ing hand  into  his  breast-pocket  and  dragged  it 
out,  the  precious  paper,  unfolding  it  with  trem- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  313 

bling  fingers,  and  holding  it  before  Dellwlg's  eyes. 
"  So  much  for  your  cooks,"  he  said,  tremulously 
triumphant.  They  were  in  the  road,  out  of  sight 
of  the  house.  Delhvig  took  the  paper  and  held 
it  close  to  his  eyes.  "  What's  this  ?  "  he  asked, 
scrutinising  it.     "  It  is  not  German." 

"  It  is  English,"  said  Klutz. 

"  What,  the  governess ?  " 

Klutz  merely  pointed  to  the  name  at  the  end. 
Oh,  the  sweetness  of  that  moment ! 

"  Anna  ?  "  read  out  Dellwig,  "  Anna.?  That  is 
Miss  Estcourt's  name." 

"  It  is,"  said  Klutz,  his  tears  all  dried  up. 

"  It  seems  to  be  poetry,"  said  Dellwig  slowly. 

"It  is,"  said  Klutz. 

"  Why  have  you  got  it  ?  " 

"  Why  indeed  !  It's  mine.  She  sent  it  to  me. 
She  wrote  it  for  me.     These  flowers " 

"  Miss  Estcourt  ?  Sent  it  to  you  ?  Poetry  ? 
To  you  ?  "  Dellwig  looked  up  from  the  paper  at 
Klutz,  and  examined  him  slowly  from  head  to 
foot  as  if  he  had  never  seen  him  before.  His 
expression  while  he  did  It  was  not  flattering,  but 
Klutz  rarely  noticed  expressions.  "  What's  it  all 
about } "  he  asked,  when  he  had  reached  Klutz's 
boots,  by  which  he  seemed  struck,  for  he  looked 
at  them  twice. 

"  Love,"  said  Klutz  proudly. 

"  Love } " 

"  Let  me  come  home  with  you,"  said  Klutz 
eagerly,  *'  I'll  translate  it  there.  I  can't  here 
where  we  might  be  disturbed." 

"  Come  on,  then,"  said  Dellwig,  walking  off  at 
a  great  pace  with  the  paper  in  his  hand. 


314  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Just  as  they  were  turning  into  the  farmyard  the 
rattle  of  a  carnage  was  heard  coming  down  the 
road.  "  Stop,"  said  Dellwig,  laying  his  hand  on 
Klutz's  arm,  "  the  Herrschaften  have  been  drink- 
ing coffee  in  the  woods  —  here  they  are,  coming 
home.     You  can  get  a  greeting  if  you  wait." 

They  both  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  road,  and 
the  carriage  with  Anna  and  a  selection  from  her 
house-party  drove  by.  Dellwig  and  Klutz  swept 
off  their  hats.  When  Anna  saw  Klutz  she  turned 
scarlet  —  undeniably,  unmistakably  scarlet  —  and 
looked  away  quickly.  Dell  wig's  lips  shaped  them- 
selves into  a  whistle.  "  Come  in,  then,"  he  said, 
glancing  at  Klutz,  "  come  in  and  translate  your 
poem." 

Seldom  had  Klutz  passed  more  delicious  mo- 
ments than  those  in  which  he  rendered  Letty's 
verses  into  German,  with  both  the  Dellwigs  drink- 
ing in  his  words.  The  proud  and  exclusive  Dell- 
wigs !  A  month  ago  such  a  thing  would  have 
been  too  wdld  a  flight  of  fancy  for  the  most  ambi- 
tious dream.  In  the  very  room  in  which  he  had 
been  thrust  aside  at  parties,  forgotten  in  corners, 
left  behind  when  the  others  went  in  to  supper,  he 
was  now  sitting  the  centre  of  interest,  with  his 
former  supercilious  hosts  hanging  on  his  words. 
When  he  had  done,  had  all  too  soon  come  to  the 
end  of  his  dehghtful  task,  he  looked  round  at 
them  triumphantly  ;  and  his  triumph  was  imme- 
diately dashed  out  of  him  by  Dellwig,  who  said 
with  his  harshest  laugh,  "  Put  aside  all  your  hopes, 
young  man  —  Miss  Estcourt  is  engaged  to  Herr 
von  Lohm." 

"  Engaged }     To    Herr    von    Lohm  ? "    Klutz 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  315 

echoed  stupidly,  his  mouth  open  and  the  hand 
holding  the  verses  dropping  limply  to  his 
side. 

"  Engaged,  engaged,  engaged,"  Dellwig  re- 
peated in  a  loud  sing-song,  "  not  openly,  but  all 
the  same  engaged." 

"  It  is  truly  scandalous ! "  cried  his  wife,  greatly 
excited,  and  firmly  believing  that  the  verses  were 
indeed  Anna's.  Was  she  not  herself  of  the  race 
of  Weiber,  and  did  she  not  therefore  well  know 
what  they  were  capable  of  ? 

"  Silence,  Frau  !  "  commanded  Dellwig. 

"  And  she  takes  my  flowers  —  my  daily  offer- 
ings, floral  and  poetical,  and  she  sends  me  these 
verses  —  and  all  the  time  she  is  betrothed  to  some- 
one else  ? " 

"  She  is,"  said  Dellwig  with  another  burst  of 
laughter,  for  Klutz's  face  amused  him  intensely. 
He  got  up  and  slapped  him  on  the  shoulder. 
"  This  is  your  first  experience  of  Weiber,  eh  ? 
Don't  waste  your  heartaches  over  her.  She  is  a 
young  lady  who  likes  to  have  her  little  joke  and 
means  no  harm " 

"  She  is  a  person  without  shame ! "  cried  his 
wife. 

"  Silence,  Frau  !  "  snapped  Dellwig.  "  Look 
here,  young  man  —  why,  what  does  he  look  like, 
sitting  there  with  all  the  wind  knocked  out  of 
him  ?  Get  him  a  glass  of  brandy,  Frau,  or  we 
shall  have  him  cr^dng  again.  Sit  up,  and  be  a 
man.  Miss  Estcourt  is  not  for  you,  and  never 
will  be.  Only  a  vicar  could  ever  have  dreamed 
she  was,  and  have  been  imposed  upon  by  this 
poetry  stuff.     But  though  you're  a  vicar  you're  a 


3i6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

man,  eh  ?  Here,  drink  this,  and  tell  us  if  you  are 
not  a  man." 

Klutz  feebly  tried  to  push  the  glass  away,  but 
Dellwig  insisted.  Klutz  was  pale  to  ghastliness, 
and  his  eyes  were  brimming  again  with  tears. 

"  Oh,  this  person  !  Oh,  this  Englishwoman  ! 
Oh,  the  shameful  treatment  of  an  estimable  young 
man ! "  cried  Frau  Dellwig,  staring  at  the  havoc 
Anna  had  wrought. 

"Silence,  Frau!"  shouted  Dellwig,  stamping  his 
foot.  "  You  can't  be  treated  like  this,"  he  went  on 
to  Klutz,  who,  used  to  drinking  much  milk  at  the 
abstemious  parsonage,  already  felt  the  brandy  run- 
ning along  his  veins  like  liquid  fire,  "  you  can't  be 
made  ridiculous  and  do  nothing.  A  vicar  can't 
fight,  but  you  must  have  some  revenge." 

Klutz  started.  "  Revenge !  Yes,  but  what 
revenge  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Nothing  to  do  with  Miss  Estcourt,  of  course. 
Leave  her  alone " 

"  Leave  her  alone  ?  "  cried  his  wife,  "  what,  when 
she  it  is " 

"  Silence,  Frau  !  "  roared  Dellwig.  "  Leave  her 
alone,  I  say.  You  won't  gain  anything  there, 
young  man.  But  go  to  her  Brautigam  Lohm  and 
tell  him  about  it,  and  show  him  the  stuff.  He'll 
be  interested." 

Dellwig  laughed  boisterously,  and  took  two  or 
three  rapid  turns  up  and  down  the  room.  He 
had  not  lived  with  old  Joachim  and  seen  much  of 
old  Lohm  and  the  surrounding  landowners  with- 
out having  learned  something  of  their  views  on 
questions  of  honour.  Axel  Lohm  he  knew  to 
be  specially  strict  and  strait-laced,  to  possess^  in 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  317 

quite  an  unusual  degree  the  ideals  that  Dellwig 
thought  so  absurd  and  so  unpractical,  the  ideals, 
that  is,  of  a  Christian  gentleman.  Had  he  not 
known  him  since  he  was  a  child  ?  And  he  had 
always  been  a  prig.  How  would  he  like  Miss 
Estcourt  to  be  talked  about,  as  of  course  she  would 
be  talked  about  .f*  Klutz's  mouth  could  not  be 
stopped,  and  the  whole  district  would  know  what 
had  been  going  on.  Axel  Lohm  could  not  and 
would  not  marry  a  young  lady  who  wrote  verses 
to  vicars ;  and  if  all  relations  between  Lohm  and 
Kleinwalde  ceased,  why  then  life  would  resume  its 
former  pleasant  course,  he,  Dellwig,  staying  on  at 
his  post,  becoming,  as  was  natural,  his  mistress's 
sole  adviser,  and  certainly  after  due  persuasion 
achieving  all  he  wanted,  including  the  brick-kiln. 
The  plainness  and  clearness  of  the  future  was 
beautiful.  He  walked  up  and  down  the  room 
making  odd  sounds  of  satisfaction,  and  silencing 
his  wife  with  vigour  every  time  she  opened  her 
lips.  Even  his  wife,  so  quick  as  a  rule  of  compre- 
hension, had  not  grasped  how  this  poem  had 
changed  their  situation,  and  how  it  behoved  them 
now  not  to  abuse  their  mistress  before  a  mischief- 
making  young  man.  She  was  blinded,  he  knew, 
by  her  hatred  of  Miss  Estcourt.  Women  were 
always  the  slaves,  in  defiance  of  their  own  inter- 
ests, to  some  emotion  or  other ;  if  it  was  not  love, 
then  it  was  hatred.  Never  could  they  wait  for 
anything  whatever.  The  passing  passion  must 
out  and  be  indulged,  however  fatal  the  conse- 
quences might  be.  What  a  set  they  were  !  And 
the  best  of  them,  what  fools.  He  glanced  angrily 
ai  his  wife  as  he  passed  her,  but  his  glance,  travel- 


3i8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ling  from  her  to  Klutz,  who  sat  quite  still  with  head 
sunk  on  his  chest,  legs  straight  out  before  him,  the 
hand  with  the  paper  loosely  held  in  it  hanging 
down  out  of  the  cuffless  sleeve  nearly  to  the  floor, 
and  vacant  eyes  staring  into  space,  his  good 
humour  returned,  and  he  gave  another  harsh 
laugh.  "  Well  ? "  he  said,  standing  in  front  of 
this  dejected  figure.  "  How  long  will  you  sit 
there?  If  I  were  you  I'd  lose  no  time.  You 
don't  want  those  two  to  be  making  love  and  en- 
joying themselves  an  hour  longer  than  is  neces- 
sary, do  you  ?  With  you  out  in  the  cold  ?  With 
you  so  cruelly  deceived  ?  And  made  to  look 
so  ridiculous?  I'd  spoil  that  if  I  were  you,  at 
once." 

"  Yes,  you  are  right.  I'll  go  to  Herr  von  Lohm 
and  see  if  I  can  have  an  interview." 

Klutz  got  up  with  a  great  show  of  determina- 
tion, put  the  paper  in  his  pocket,  and  buttoned  his 
coat  over  it  for  greater  security.  Then  he  hesi- 
tated. 

"  It  is  a  shameful  thing,  isn't  it  ?  "  he  said,  hi? 
eyes  on  Dellwig's  face. 

"  Shameful  ?     It's  downright  cruel." 

"  Shameful  ?  "  began  his  wife. 

"  Silence,  I  tell  thee  !  Young  ladies'  jokes  are 
sometimes  cruel,  you  see.  I  believe  it  was  a  joke, 
but  a  very  heartless  one,  and  one  that  has  made 
you  look  more  foolish  even  than  half-fledged  pas- 
tors of  your  age  generally  do  look.  It  is  only  fair 
in  return  to  spoil  her  game  for  her.  Take  another 
glass  of  brandy,  and  go  and  do  it." 

Klutz  stared  hard  for  a  moment  at  Dellwig. 
Then  he  seized  the  brandy,  gulped  it  down,  snatched 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  319 

up  his  hat,  and  taking  no  farewell  notice  of  either 
husband  or  wife,  hurried  out  of  the  room.  They 
saw  him  pass  beneath  the  window,  his  hat  over  his 
eyes,  his  face  white,  his  ears  aflame. 

"  There  goes  a  fool,"  said  Dellwig,  rubbing  his 
hands,  "and  as  useful  a  one  as  ever  I  saw.  But 
here's  another  fool,"  he  added,  turning  sharply  to 
his  wife,  "  and  I  don't  want  them  in  my  own  house." 

And  he  proceeded  to  tell  her,  in  the  vigorous 
and  convincing  language  of  a  justly  irritated  hus- 
band, what  he  thought  of  her. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

Klutz  sped,  as  fast  as  his  shaking  limbs 
allowed,  to  Lohm.  When  he  passed  Anna's 
house  he  flung  it  a  look  of  burning  contempt, 
which  he  hoped  she  saw  and  felt  from  behind 
some  curtain ;  and  then,  trying  to  put  her  from 
his  mind,  he  made  desperate  efforts  to  arrange  his 
thoughts  a  little  for  the  coming  interview.  He 
supposed  that  it  must  be  the  brandy  that  made  it  so 
difficult  for  him  to  discern  exactly  why  he  was  to  go 
to  Herr  von  Lohm  instead  of  to  the  person  prin- 
cipally concerned,  the  person  who  had  treated  him 
so  scandalously ;  but  Herr  Dellwig  knew  best,  of 
course,  and  judged  the  matter  quite  dispassionately. 
Certainly  Herr  von  Lohm,  as  an  insolently  happy 
rival,  ought  in  mere  justice  to  be  annoyed  a  little ; 
and  if  the  annoyance  reached  such  a  pitch  of  effec- 
tiveness as  to  make  him  break  off  the  engagement, 
why  then  —  there  was  no  knowing  —  perhaps  after 

all ?     The  ordinary  Christian  was  bound  to 

forgive  his  erring  brother ;  how  much  more,  then, 
was  it  incumbent  on  a  pastor  to  forgive  his  erring 
sister?  But  Klutz  did  wish  that  someone  else 
could  have  done  the  annoying  for  him,  leaving 
him  to  deal  solely  with  Anna,  a  woman,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  sex  in  whose  presence  he  was  always  at 
his  ease.  The  brandy  prevented  him  from  feeling 
it  as  acutely  as  he  would  otherwise  have  done, 
but   the   plain   truth,  the   truth    undisguised   by 

320 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  321 

brandy,  was  that  he  looked  up  to  Axel  Lohm 
with  a  respect  bordering  on  fear,  had  never  in  his 
life  been  alone  with  him,  or  so  much  as  spoken  to 
him  beyond  ordinary  civilities  when  they  met,  and 
he  was  frightened. 

By  the  time  he  reached  Axel's  stables,  which 
stood  by  the  roadside  about  five  minutes'  walk 
from  Axel's  gate,  he  found  himself  obliged  to  go 
over  his  sufferings  once  again  one  by  one,  to 
count  the  dinners  he  had  missed,  to  remember 
the  feverish  nights  and  the  restless  days,  to 
rehearse  what  Dell  wig  had  just  told  him  of  his 
present  ridiculousness,  or  he  would  have  turned 
back  and  gone  home.  But  these  thoughts  gave 
him  the  courage  necessary  to  get  him  through  the 
gate ;  and  by  the  time  he  had  rounded  the  bend 
in  the  avenue  escape  had  become  impossible,  for 
Axel  was  standing  on  the  steps  of  the  house. 
Axel  had  a  cigar  in  his  mouth ;  his  hands  were  in 
his  pockets,  and  he  was  watching  the  paces  of  a 
young  mare  which  was  being  led  up  and  down. 
Two  pointers  were  sitting  at  his  feet,  and  when 
Klutz  appeared  they  rushed  down  at  him  barking. 
Klutz  did  not  as  a  rule  object  to  being  barked  at 
by  dogs,  but  he  was  in  a  highly  nervous  state, 
and  shrank  aside  involuntarily.  The  groom  lead- 
ing the  mare  grinned ;  Axel  whistled  the  dogs 
off ;  and  Klutz,  with  hot  ears,  walked  up  and  took 
off  his  hat. 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you,  Herr  Klutz  ?  "  asked 
Axel,  his  hands  still  in  his  pockets  and  his  eyes 
on  the  mare's  legs. 

"  I  wish  to  speak  with  you  privately,"  said 
Klutz. 


322  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Gut,  Just  wait  a  moment."  And  Klutz 
waited,  while  Axel,  with  great  deliberation,  con- 
tinued his  scrutiny  of  the  mare,  and  followed  it  up 
by  a  lengthy  technical  discussion  of  her  faults  and 
her  merits  with  the  groom. 

This  was  intolerable.     Klutz  had  come  on  busi- 
ness of  vital  importance,  and  he  was  left  standing 
there  for  what  seemed  to  him  at  least  half  an  hour, 
as  though  he  were  rather  less  than  a  dog  or  a  beg- 
gar.    As  time  passed,  and  he  still  was  kept  wait- 
ing, the  fury  that  had  possessed  him  as  he  stood 
helpless  before  Anna's  shut  door  in  the  afternoon, 
returned.     All  his  doubts  and  fears  and  respect 
melted  away.     What  a  day  he  had  had  of  suffer- 
ing, of  every  kind  of  agitation  !    The  ground  alone 
that  he  had  covered,  going  backwards  and  forwards 
between  Lohm  and  Kleinwalde,  was  enough  to  tire 
out  a  man  in  health ;  and  he  was  not  in  health,  he 
was  ill,  fasting,  shaking  in  every  limb.     While  he 
had  been  suffering  {leidend  und  schwitzeiid,  he  said 
to  himself,  grinding   his  teeth),  this    comfortable 
man  in  the  gaiters  and  the  aggressively  clean  cuffs 
had  no  doubt  passed  very  pleasant  and  easy  hours, 
had  had  three  meals  at  least  where  he  had  had 
none,  had  smoked  cigars  and  examined  horses' 
legs,  had  ridden  a  little,  driven  a  little,  and  would 
presently  go  round,  now  that  the  cool  of  the  even- 
ing had  come,  to  Kleinwalde,  and  sit  in  the  twi- 
light while  Miss  Estcourt  called  him  Schatz.    Oh, 
it  was  not  to  be  borne!     Dellwig  was  right  —  he 
must  be  annoyed,  punished,  at  all  costs  shaken  out 
of  his  lofty  indifference.     "  Let  me  remind  you," 
Klutz  burst  out  in  a  voice  that  trembled  with  pas- 
sion, "  that  I  am  still  here,  and  still  waiting,  and 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  323 

that  I  have  only  two  legs.     Your  horse,  I  see,  has 
four,  and  is  better  able  to  stand  and  wait  than  I 


am," 


Axel  turned  and  stared  at  him.  "  Why,  what 
is  the  matter  ?  "  he  asked,  astonished.  "  You  are 
Manske's  vicar  ?  Yes,  of  course  you  are.  I  did 
not  know  you  had  anything  very  pressing  to  tell 
me.     I  am  sorry  I  have  kept  you  —  come  in." 

He  sent  the  mare  to  the  stables,  and  led  the  way 
into  his  study.  "Sit  down,"  he  said,  pushing  a 
chair  forward,  and  sitting  down  himself  by  his 
writing-table.     "Have  a  cigar.?*" 

"  No." 

"  No  ?  "  Axel  stared  again.  "'  No  thank  you  ' 
is  the  form  prejudice  prefers,"  he  said. 

"  I  care  nothing  for  that." 

"  What  is  the  matter,  my  dear  Herr  Klutz  ? 
You  are  very  angry  about  something." 

"  I  have  been  shamefully  treated  by  a  woman." 

"  It  is  what  sometimes  happens  to  young  men," 
said  Axel,  smiling. 

"  I  do  not  want  cheap  wisdom  like  that,"  cried 
Klutz,  his  eyes  ablaze. 

Axel's  brows  went  up.  "You  are  rude,  my  good 
Herr  Klutz,"  he  said.  "  Try  to  be  polite  if  you 
wish  me  to  help  you.  If  you  cannot,  I  shall  ask 
you  to  go." 

"  I  will  not  go." 

"  My  dear  Herr  Klutz." 

"  I  say  I  will  not  go  till  I  have  told  you  what  I 
came  to  tell  you.     The  woman  is  Miss  Estcourt." 

"Miss  Estcourt  .f'"  repeated  Axel,  amazed. 
Then  he  added,  "  Call  her  a  lady." 

"  She  is  a  woman  to  all  intents  and  purposes " 


324  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Call  her  a  lady.  It  sounds  better  from  a  young 
man  of  your  station." 

"  Of  my  station  !  What,  a  man  with  the  brains 
of  a  man,  the  mind  of  a  man,  the  sinews  of  a  man, 
is  not  equal,  is  not  superior,  whatever  his  station 
may  be,  to  a  mere  woman  ?  " 

"  I  will  not  discuss  your  internal  arrangements. 
Has  there,  then,  been  some  mistake  about  the 
salary  you  are  to  receive  ?  " 

"  What  salary  ?  " 

"  For  teaching  Miss  Letty  Estcourt.?^  " 

«  Pah  —  the  salary.      Love  does    not   look   at 

salaries." 

"  That  sounds  magnificent.    Did  you  say  love  ?  " 

"  For  weeks  past,  all  the  time  that  I  have 
taught  the  niece,  she  has  taken  my  flowers,  my 
messages,  at  first  verbal  and  at  last  written " 

"One  moment.  Of  whom  are  we  talking.^  I 
have  met  you  with  Miss  Leech " 

"  The  governess  ?  /c/i  danke.  It  is  Miss  Est- 
court  who  has  encouraged  me  and  led  me  on,  and 
now,  after  calling  me  her  Lammchen,  takes  away 
her  niece  and  shuts  her  door  in  my  face " 

"  You  have  been  drinking  ?  " 

"Certainly  not,"  cried  Klutz,  the  more  indig- 
nantly because  of  his  consciousness  of  the  brandy. 

"  Then  you  have  no  excuse  at  all  for  talking  in 
this  manner  of  my  neighbour  ?  " 

"  Excuse !  To  hear  you,  one  would  think  she 
must  be  a  queen,"  said  Klutz,  laughing  derisively. 
"  If  she  were,  I  should  still  talk  as  I  pleased.  A 
cat  may  look  at  a  king,  I  suppose  ?  "  And  he 
laughed  again,  very  bitterly,  disliking  even  for  one 
moment  to  imagine  himself  in  the  role  of  the  cat. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  325 

"  A  cat  may  look  as  long  and  as  often  as  it 
likes,"  said  Axel,  "but  it  must  not  get  in  the 
king's  way.      I  am  sure  you  can  guess  why." 

"  I  have  not  come  here  to  guess  why  about 
anything." 

"  Oh,  it  is  not  very  abstruse  —  the  cat  would  be 
kicked  by  somebody,  of  course." 

"  Oh,  ho !  Not  if  it  could  bite,  and  had  what  I 
have  in  its  pocket." 

"  Cats  do  not  have  pockets,  my  dear  Herr  Klutz. 
You  must  have  noticed  that  yourself.  Pray,  what 
is  it  that  you  have  in  yours  ?  " 

"  A  little  poem  she  sent  me  in  answer  to  one 
of  mine.  A  little,  sweet  poem.  I  thought  you 
might  like  to  see  how  your  future  wife  writes  to 
another  man." 

"  Ah  —  that  is  why  you  have  called  so  kindly 
on  me  ?  Out  of  pure  thoughtfulness.  My  future 
wife,  then,  is  Miss  Estcourt  ? " 

"  It  is  an  open  secret." 

"  It  is,  most  unfortunately,  not  true." 

"  Ac/i  —  I  knew  you  would  deny  it,"  cried  Klutz, 
slapping  his  leg  and  grinning  horribly.  "  I  knew 
you  would  deny  it  when  you  heard  she  had  been 
behaving  badly.  But  denials  do  not  alter  any- 
thing —  no  one  will  believe  them " 

Axel  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "Am  I  to  see 
the  poem  ?  "  he  asked. 

Klutz  took  it  out  and  handed  it  to  him.  The 
twilight  had  come  into  the  room,  and  Axel  put 
the  paper  down  a  moment  while  he  lit  the  candles 
on  his  table.  Then  he  smoothed  out  its  creases, 
and  holding  it  close  to  the  light  read  it  attentively. 
Klutz  leaned  forward  and  watched  his  face.     Not 


326  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

a  muscle  moved.  It  had  been  calm  before,  and  it 
remained  calm.  Klutz  could  hardly  keep  himself 
from  leaping  up  and  striking  that  impassive  face, 
striking  some  sort  of  feeling  into  it.  He  had 
played  his  big  card,  and  Axel  was  quite  unmoved. 
What  could  he  do,  what  could  he  say,  to  hurt 
him  ? 

"  Shall  we  burn  it }  "  inquired  Axel,  looking  up 
from  the  paper. 

"  Burn  it  ?     Burn  my  poem  ?  " 

"  It  is  such  very  great  nonsense.  It  is  written 
by  a  child.  We  know  what  child.  Only  one  in 
this  part  can  write  English." 

"  Miss  Estcourt  wrote  it,  I  tell  you !  "  cried 
Klutz,  jumping  to  his  feet  and  snatching  the 
paper  away. 

"  Your  telling  me  so  does  not  in  the  very  least 
convince  me.  Miss  Estcourt  knows  nothing 
about  it." 

"She   does  —  she    did "screamed    Klutz, 

beside  himself.  "Your  Miss  Estcourt  —  your 
Braut — you  try  to  brazen  it  out  because  you 
are  ashamed  of  such  a  Braut.  It  is  no  use  — 
everyone  shall  see  this,  and  be  told  about  it  — 
the  whole  province  shall  ring  with  it  —  /  will  not 
be  the  laughing-stock,  but  you  will  be.  Not  a 
labourer,  not  a  peasant,  but  shall  hear  of  it " 

"  It  strikes  me,"  said  Axel,  rising,  "  that  you 
badly  want  kicking.  I  do  not  like  to  do  it  in  my 
house  —  it  hardly  seems  hospitable.  If  you  will 
suggest  a  convenient  place,  neutral  ground,  I 
shall  be  pleased  to  come  and  do  it." 

He  looked  at  Klutz  with  an  encouraging  smile. 
Then  something  in  the  young   man's  twitching 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  327 

face  arrested  his  attention.  "  Do  you  know  what 
I  think  ? "  he  said  quickly,  in  a  different  voice. 
"  It  is  less  a  kicking  that  you  want  than  a  good 
meal.  You  really  look  as  though  you  had  had  noth- 
ing to  eat  for  a  week.  The  difference  a  beefsteak 
would  make  to  your  views  would  surprise  you. 
Come,  come,"  he  said,  patting  him  on  the  shoulder, 
"  I  have  been  taking  you  too  seriously.  You  are 
evidently  not  in  your  usual  state.  When  did  you 
have  food  last?  What  has  Frau  Pastor  been 
about  ?     And  your  eyelids  are  so  red  that  I  do 

believe "  Axel  looked  closer  —  "I  do  believe 

you  have  been  crying." 

"  Sir,"  began  Klutz,  struggling  hard  with  a 
dreadful  inclination  to  cry  again,  for  self-pity  is  a 
very  tender  and  tearful  sentiment,  "Sir " 

"  Let  me  order  that  beefsteak,"  said  Axel 
kindly.  "  My  cook  will  have  it  ready  in  ten 
minutes." 

"  Sir,"  said  Klutz,  with  the  tremendous  dignity 
that  immediately  precedes  tears,  "  Sir,  I  am  not  to 
be  bribed." 

"  Well,  take  a  cigar  at  least,"  said  Axel,  opening 
his  case.  "  That  will  not  corrupt  you  as  much  as 
the  beefsteak,  and  will  soothe  you  a  little  on  your 
way  home.  For  you  must  go  home  and  get  to 
bed.  You  are  as  near  an  illness  as  any  man  I 
ever  saw." 

The  tears  were  so  near,  so  terribly  near,  that, 
hardly  knowing  what  he  did,  and  sooner  than  trust 
himself  to  speak.  Klutz  took  a  cigar  and  lit  it  at 
the  match  Axel  held  for  him.  His  hand  shook 
pitifully. 

"  Now  go   home,  my   dear   Klutz,"  said   Axel 


328  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

very  kindly.  "  Tell  Frau  Pastor  to  give  you  some 
food,  and  then  get  to  bed.  I  wish  you  would  have 
taken  the  beefsteak  —  here  is  your  hat.  If  you 
like,  we  will  talk  about  this  nonsense  later  on. 
Believe  me,  it  is  nonsense.  You  will  be  the  first 
to  say  so  next  week." 

And  he  ushered  him  out  to  the  steps,  and 
watched  him  go  down  them,  uneasy  lest  he  should 
stumble  and  fall,  so  weak  did  he  seem  to  be. 
"  What  a  hot  wind  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  You  will 
have  a  dusty  walk  home.  Go  slowly.  Good- 
night." 

"  Poor  devil,"  he  thought,  as  Klutz  without 
speaking  went  down  the  avenue  into  the  darkness 
with  unsteady  steps,  "  poor  young  devil  —  the 
highest  possible  opinion  of  himself,  and  the  small- 
est possible  quantity  of  brains ;  a  weak  will  and 
strong  instincts ;  much  unwholesome  study  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  with  Manske ;  a  body 
twenty  years  old,  and  the  finest  spring  I  can  re- 
member filling  it  with  all  sorts  of  anti-parsonic 
longings.  I  believe  I  ought  to  have  taken  him 
home.     He  looked  as  though  he  would  faint." 

This  last  thought  disturbed  Axel.  The  image 
of  Klutz  fainting  into  a  ditch  and  remaining  in  it 
prostrate  all  night,  refused  to  be  set  aside ;  and  at 
last  he  got  his  hat  and  went  down  the  avenue  after 
him. 

But  Klutz,  who  had  shufiled  along  quickly,  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  Axel  opened  the  avenue 
gate  and  looked  down  the  road  that  led  past  the 
stables  to  the  village  and  parsonage,  and  then 
across  the  fields  to  Kleinwalde;  he  even  went  a 
little  way  along  it,  with   an   uneasy  eye  on   the 


THE   BENEFACTRESS 


329 


ditches,  but  he  did  not  see  Klutz,  either  upright 
or  prostrate.  Well,  if  he  were  in  a  ditch,  he  said 
to  himself,  he  would  not  drown ;  the  ditches  were 
all  as  empty,  dry,  and  burnt-up  as  four  weeks' 
incessant  drought  and  heat  could  make  them. 
He  turned  back  repeating  that  eminently  consola- 
tory proverb,  Unkraut  vergeht  nickt,  and  walked 
quickly  to  his  own  gate ;  for  it  was  late,  and  he 
had  work  to  do,  and  he  had  wasted  more  time 
than  he  could  afford  with  Klutz.  A  man  on  a 
horse  coming  from  the  opposite  direction  passed 
him.  It  was  Dellwig,  and  each  recognised  the 
other ;  but  in  these  days  of  mutual  and  profound 
distrust  both  were  glad  of  the  excuse  the  darkness 
gave  for  omitting  the  usual  greetings.  Dellwig 
rode  on  towards  Kleinwalde  in  silence,  and  Axel 
turned  in  at  his  gate. 

But  the  poor  young  devil,  as  Axel  called  him, 
had  not  fainted.  Hurrying  down  the  dark  avenue, 
beyond  Axel's  influence,  far  from  fainting,  it  was 
all  Klutz  could  do  not  to  shout  with  passion  at 
his  own  insufferable  weakness,  his  miserable  want 
of  self-control  in  the  presence  of  the  man  he  now 
regarded  as  his  enemy.  The  tears  in  his  eyes 
had  given  Lohm  an  opportunity  for  pretending 
he  was  sorry  for  him,  and  for  making  insulting 
and  derisive  offers  of  food.  What  could  equal  in 
humiliation  the  treatment  to  which  he  had  been 
subjected }  First  he  had  been  treated  as  a  dog, 
and  then,  far  worse,  far,  far  worse  and  more  diffi- 
cult to  bear  with  dignity,  as  a  child.  A  beefsteak }  ■ 
Oh,  the  shame  that  seared  his  soul  as  he  thought 
of  it !  This  revolting  specimen  of  the  upper  class 
had  declared,  with  a  hateful  smile  of  indulgent 


330  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

superiority,  that  all  his  love,  all  his  sufferings,  all 
his  just  indignation,  depended  solely  for  their  exist- 
ence on  whether  he  did  or  did  not  eat  a  beefsteak. 
Could  coarse-mindedness  and  gross  insensibility 
go  further  ?  "  Thrice  miserable  nation  !  "  he  cried 
aloud,  shaking  his  fist  at  the  unconcerned  stars, 
"thrice  miserable  nation,  whose  ruling  class  is 
composed  of  men  so  vile  !  "  And,  having  removed 
his  cigar  in  order  to  make  this  utterance,  he  re- 
membered, with  a  great  start,  that  it  was  Axel's. 

He  was  in  the  road,  just  passing  Axel's  stables. 
The  gate  to  the  stable-yard  stood  open,  and  inside 
it,  heaped  against  one  of  the  buildings,  w^as  a 
waggon-load  of  straw.  Instantly  Klutz  became 
aware  of  what  he  was  going  to  do.  A  lightning 
flash  of  clear  purpose  illumined  the  disorder  of 
his  brain.  It  was  supper  time,  and  no  one  was 
about.  He  ran  inside  the  gate  and  threw  the 
lighted  cigar  on  to  the  straw ;  and  because  there 
was  not  an  instantaneous  blaze  fumbled  for  his 
matchbox,  and  lit  one  match  after  the  other, 
pushing  them  in  a  kind  of  frenzy  under  thie  loose 
ends  of  straw. 

There  was  a  puff  of  smoke,  and  then  a  bright 
tongue  of  flame  ;  and  immediately  he  had  achieved 
his  purpose  he  was  terrified,  and  fled  away  from 
the  dreadful  light,  and  hid  himself,  shuddering,  in 
the  darkness  of  the  country  road. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

"  It's  in  Stralsund,"  cried  the  princess,  hurrying 
out  into  the  Kleinwalde  garden  when  first  the 
alarm  was  given. 

"  It's  in  Lohm,"  cried  someone  else. 

Anna  watched  the  light  in  silence,  her  face  paler 
than  ordinary,  her  hair  blown  about  by  the  hot 
wind.  The  trees  in  the  dark  garden  swayed  and 
creaked,  the  air  was  parching  and  full  of  dust,  the 
light  glared  brighter  each  moment.  Surely  it  was 
very  near?  Surely  it  was  nearer  than  Stralsund? 
"  It's  in  Lohm,"  cried  someone  with  conviction ; 
and  Anna  turned  and  began  to  run. 

"  Where  are  you  running  to.  Aunt  Anna  ? " 
asked  Letty,  breathlessly  following  her ;  for  since 
the  affair  with  Klutz  she  followed  her  aunt  about 
like  a  conscience-stricken  dog. 

"  The  fire-engine  —  there  is  one  at  the  farm  — 
it  must  go " 

They  took  each  other's  hands  and  ran  in  silence. 
Between  the  gusts  of  wind  they  could  hear  the 
Lohm  church-bells  ringing ;  and  almost  immedi- 
ately the  single  Kleinwalde  bell  began  to  toll,  to 
toll  with  a  forlorn,  blood-curdling  sound  altogether 
different  from  its  unmeaning  Sunday  tinkle. 

In  front  of  her  house  Frau  Dellwig  stood,  watch- 
ing the  sky.  "  It  is  Lohm,"  she  said  to  Anna  as 
she  came  up  panting. 

331 


332  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Yes  —  the  fire-engine  —  is  it  ordered  ?  Has 
it  gone  ?     No  ?     Then  at  once  —  at  once " 

''Jawohl,jazvohl^'^2A^  Frau  Dellwig  with  great 
calm,  the  philosophic  calm  of  him  who  contem- 
plates calamities  other  than  his  own.  She  said 
something  to  one  of  the  maids,  who  were  standing 
about  in  pleased  and  excited  groups  laughing  and 
whispering,  and  the  girl  shuffled  off  in  her  clatter- 
ing wooden  shoes.  "  My  husband  is  not  here," 
she  explained,  "and  the  men  are  at  supper." 

"  Then  they  must  leave  their  supper,"  cried 
Anna.  "  Go,  go,  you  girls,  and  tell  them  so  — 
look  how  terrible  it  is  getting " 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  big  fire.  The  girl  I  sent  will  tell 
them.     They  say  it  is  the  SchlossT 

"  Oh,  go  yourself  and  tell  the  men  —  see,  there  is 
no  sign  of  them  —  every  minute  is  priceless " 

"  It  is  always  a  business  with  the  engine.  It  has 
not  been  required,  thank  God,  for  years.  Mietze, 
go  and  hurry  them." 

The  girl  called  Mietze  went  off  at  a  trot.  The 
others  put  their  heads  together,  looked  at  their 
young  mistress,  and  whispered.  A  stable-boy  came 
to  the  pump  and  filled  his  pail.  Everyone  seemed 
composed,  and  yet  there  was  that  bloody  sky,  and 
there  was  that  insistent  cry  for  help  from  the  anx- 
ious bell. 

Anna  could  hardly  bear  it.  What  was  happen- 
ing down  there  to  her  kind  friend } 

"  It  is  the  Sc/z/oss,'"  said  the  stable-boy  in  answer 
to  a  question  from  Frau  Dellwig  as  he  passed  with 
his  full  pail,  spilling  the  water  at  every  step. 

"  Acky  I  thought  so,"  she  said,  glancing  at 
Anna. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  S33 

Anna  made  a  passionate  movement,  and  ran 
down  the  steps  after  the  girl  Mietze.  Frau  Dell- 
wig  could  not  but  follow,  which  she  did  slowly,  at 
a  disapproving  distance. 

But  Delhvig  galloped  into  the  yard  at  that  mo- 
ment, his  horse  covered  with  sweat,  and  his  loud 
and  peremptory  orders  extracted  the  ancient  engine 
from  its  shed,  got  the  horses  harnessed  to  it,  and 
after  what  Anna  thought  an  eternity  it  rattled 
away.  When  it  started,  the  whole  sky  to  the  south 
was  like  one  dreadful  sheet  of  blood. 

"  It  is  the  stables,"  he  said  to  Anna. 

"  Herr  von  Lohm's  ?  " 

"  Yes.     They  cannot  be  saved." 

"  And  the  house  ?  " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  It's  a  windy 
night,"  he  said,  "and  the  wind  is  blowing  that 
way.  There  are  pine-trees  between.  Everything 
is  as  dry  as  cinders." 

"  The  stables  —  are  they  insured  .^^ ' 

But  Delhvig  was  off  again,  after  the  engine. 

"  What  can  we  do,  Letty  ?  What  can  we  c^o  ?  " 
cried  Anna,  turning  to  Letty  when  the  sound  of 
the  wheels  had  died  away  and  only  the  hurried 
bell  was  heard  above  the  whistling  and  banging 
of  the  wind.  "  It's  horrible  here,  listening  to  that 
bell  tolling,  and  looking  at  the  sky.  If  I  could 
throw  one  single  bucketful  of  water  on  the  fire  I 
should  not  feel  so  useless,  so  utterly,  utterly  of  no 
use  or  good  for  anything." 

Neither  of  them  had  ever  seen  a  fire,  and  horror 
had  seized  them  both.  The  night  seemed  so  dark, 
the  world  all  round  so  black,  except  in  that  one 
dreadful  spot.     Anna  knew  Axel  could  not  afford 


334  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

to  lose  money.  From  things  Trudi  had  said,  from 
things  the  princess  had  said,  she  knew  it.  There 
was  at  Lohm,  she  felt  rather  than  knew,  an  abun- 
dance of  everything  necessary  to  ordinary  com- 
fortable living,  as  there  generally  is  in  the  country 
on  farms ;  but  money  was  scarce,  and  a  series  of 
bad  seasons,  perhaps  even  one  bad  season,  or  any- 
thing out  of  the  way  happening,  might  make  it 
very  scarce,  might  make  the  further  proper  farm- 
ing of  the  place  impossible.  Suppose  the  stables 
were  not  insured,  where  would  the  money  come 
from  to  rebuild  them  ?  And  the  horses  —  she  had 
heard  that  horses  went  mad  with  fright  in  a  fire, 
and  refused  to  leave  their  stables.  And  the  house 
—  suppose  this  cruel  wind  made  the  checking  of 
the  fire  impossible,  and  it  licked  its  way  across  the 
trees  to  Axel's  house  ?  "  Oh,  what  can  we  do  ?  " 
she  cried  to  the  frightened  Letty. 

"  Let's  go  there,"  said  Letty. 

"  Yes  !  "  cried  Anna,  striking  her  hands  together. 
"  Yes  !  The  carriage  —  Frau  Dellwig,  order  the 
carriage  —  order  Fritz  to  bring  the  carriage  out  at 
once.     Tell  him  to  be  quick  —  quick!  " 

"  The  gracious  Miss  will  go  to  Lohm  ? " 

"  Yes  —  call  him,  send  for  him  —  Fritz !  Fritz !  " 
She  herself  began  to  call. 

"But " 

"  Fritz !  Fritz !  Run,  Letty,  and  see  if  you  can 
find  him." 

"  If  I  may  be  permitted  to  advise " 

"Fritz!  Fritz!  Fritz!" 

"  Call  the  herrschaftliche  Kutscher  Fritz,"  Frau 
Dellwig  then  commanded  a  passing  boy  in  a  loud 
and  stern  voice.     "  Not  only  mad,  but  improper,'* 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  335 

was  her  private  comment.  "  She  goes  by  night 
to  her  Br'duiigam  —  to  her  unacknowledged 
Brautigamr  Even  a  possible  burning  Br'duti- 
gam  did  not,  in  her  opinion,  excuse  such  a  step. 

The  darkness  concealed  the  anger  on  her  face, 
and  Anna  neither  noticed  nor  cared  for  the  anger 
in  her  voice,  but  began  herself  to  run  in  the 
direction  of  the  stables,  leaving  Frau  Dellwig  to 
her  reflections. 

"  Princess  Ludwig  is  looking  for  you  every- 
where, Aunt  Anna,"  said  Letty,  coming  towards 
her,  having  found  Fritz  and  succeeded  in  making 
him  understand  what  she  wanted. 

"  Where  is  she  ?     Is  the  carriage  coming  ?  " 

"  He  said  five  minutes.  She  was  at  the  house, 
asking  the  servants  if  they  had  seen  you." 

"  Come  along  then,  we'll  go  to  her." 

"  I  was  afraid  I  should  not  find  you  here,"  said 
the  princess  as  Anna  came  up  the  steps  of  the 
house  into  the  light  of  the  entry,  "and  that  you 
had  run  off  to  Lohm  to  put  the  fire  out.  My  dear 
child,  what  do  you  look  like }  Come  and  look  at 
yourself  in  the  glass." 

She  led  her  to  the  glass  that  hung  above  the 
Dellwig  hat-stand. 

"  I  am  just  going  there,"  said  Anna,  looking  at 
her  reflection  without  seeing  it.  "  The  carriage  is 
being  got  ready  now." 

"  Then  I  am  coming  too.  What  has  the  wind 
been  doing  to  your  hair.^  See,  I  knew  you  were 
running  about  bare-headed,  and  have  brought  you 
a  scarf.  Come,  let  me  tie  it  over  all  these  excited 
little  curls,  and  turn  you  into  a  sober  and  circum- 
spect young  woman." 


336  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna  bent  her  head  and  let  the  princess  do  as 
she  pleased.  "  Herr  Dellwig  is  afraid  the  fire  will 
spread  to  the  house,"  she  said  breathlessly.  "  Our 
engine  has  only  just  gone " 

"  I  heard  it." 

"  It  is  such  a  lumbering  thing,  it  will  be  hours 
getting  there " 

"  Oh,  not  hours.     Half  a  one,  perhaps." 

"  Are  they  insured  ?  " 

"  The  buildings  ?  They  are  sure  to  be.  But 
there  is  always  a  loss  that  cannot  be  covered  — 
ach,  Frau  Dellwig,  good-evening  — you  see  we 
have  taken  possession  of  your  house.  To  have 
no  stables  and  probably  no  horses  just  when  the 
busy  time  is  beginning  is  terrible.  Poor  Axel. 
There  —  now  you  are  tidy.  Wait,  let  me  fasten 
your  cloak  and  cover  up  your  pretty  dress.  Is 
Letty  to  come  too  ?  " 

"  Oh  —  if  she  likes.  Why  doesn't  the  carriage 
come  ? " 

"  It  will  be  much  better  if  Letty  goes  to  bed," 
said  the  princess. 

"  Oh !  "  said  Letty. 

"  It  is  long  past  her  bedtime,  and  she  has  no 
hat,  and  nothing  round  her.  Shall  we  not  ask  Frau 
Dellwig  to  send  a  servant  with  her  home  ? " 

''  Aber gewiss "  began  Frau  Dellwig. 

But  Anna  was  out  again  on  the  steps,  was 
shutting  out  the  flaming  sky  with  one  hand  while 
she  strained  her  eyes  into  the  darkness  of  the 
corner  where  the  coach-house  was.  She  could 
hear  Fritz's  voice,  and  the  horses'  hoofs  on  the 
cobbles,  and  she  could  see  the  light  of  a  lantern 
jogging  up  and  down  as  the  stable-boy  who  held 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  337 

it  hurried  to  and  fro.     "  Quick,  quick,  Fritz,"  she 

cried. 

"-  Jawohl,  gnadiges  Fr'dulein^'  came  back  the 
answer  in  the  old  man's  cheery,  reassuring  tones. 
But  it  was  like  a  nightmare,  standing  there  wait- 
ing, waiting,  the  precious  minutes  slipping  by, 
terrible  things  happening  to  Axel,  and  she  herself 
unable  to  stir  a  step  towards  him. 

"  Take  me  with  you  —  let  me  come  too,"  pleaded 
Letty  from  behind  her,  slipping  her  hand  into 
Anna's. 

"  Then  tie  a  handkerchief  or  something  round 
your  head,"  said  Anna,  her  eyes  on  the  lantern 
moving  about  before  the  coach-house.  Then  the 
carriage  lamps  flashed  out,  and  in  another  moment 
the  carriage  rattled  up. 

It  was  a  ghostly  drive.  As  the  tops  of  the  pine- 
trees  swayed  aside  they  caught  glimpses  of  the 
red  horror  of  the  sky ;  and  when  they  got  out  into 
the  open  Anna  cried  out  involuntarily,  for  it 
seemed  as  if  the  whole  world  were  on  fire.  The 
spire  of  Lohm  church  and  the  roofs  of  the  cot- 
tages stood  out  clear  and  sharp  in  the  fierce  light. 
The  horses,  more  and  more  frightened  the  nearer 
they  drew,  plunged  and  reared,  and  old  Fritz  could 
hardly  hold  them  in.  On  turning  the  corner  by 
the  parsonage  they  were  not  to  be  induced  to 
advance  another  yard,  but  swerved  aside,  kicking 
and  terrified,  and  threatening  every  moment  to 
upset  the  carriage  into  the  ditch. 

Anna  jumped  out  and  ran  on.  The  princess, 
slower  and  more  bulky,  was  helped  out  by  Letty 
and  followed  after  as  quickly  as  she  could.  In 
the  road  and  in  the  field  opposite  the  stables  the 


338  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

whole  population  was  gathered,  illuminated  figures 
in  eager,  chattering  groups.  From  the  pump  on 
the  green  in  front  of  the  schoolhouse,  a  chain  of 
helpers  had  been  formed,  and  buckets  of  water 
were  being  passed  along  from  hand  to  hand  to 
the  engines;  and  there  was  no  other  water. 
The  engines  were  working  farther  down  the 
road,  keeping  the  hose  turned  on  to  the  trees 
between  the  stables  and  the  house.  There  were 
clumps  of  pine-trees  among  them,  and  these  were 
the  trees  that  would  carry  the  fire  across  to  Axel's 
house.  Men  in  the  garden  were  hacking  at  them, 
the  blows  of  their  axes  indistinguishable  in  the 
uproar,  but  every  now  and  then  one  of  the  victims 
fell  with  a  crash  among  its  fellows  still  standing 
behind  it. 

"  Oh,  poor  Axel,  poor  Axel !  "  murmured  Anna, 
drawing  her  scarf  across  her  face  as  she  passed 
along  to  protect  it  from  the  intolerable  heat.  But 
she  was  an  unmistakable  figure  in  her  blue  cloak 
and  white  dress,  stumbling  on  to  where  the 
engines  were;  and  the  groups  of  onlookers 
nudged  each  other  and  turned  to  stare  after  her 
as  she  passed. 

"  How  did  it  happen  ?  "  she  asked,  suddenly  stop- 
ping before  a  knot  of  women.  They  were  in  the 
act  of  discussing  her,  and  started  and  looked  foolish. 

"  No  one  knows,"  said  the  eldest,  when  Anna 
repeated  her  question.  "  They  say  it  was  done  on 
purpose." 

"  Done  on  purpose  ! "  echoed  Anna,  staring  at 
the  speaker.  "  Why,  who  would  set  fire  to  a  place 
on  purpose  ? " 

But  to  this  question  no  reply  at  all  was  forth- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  339 

coming.  They  fidgeted  and  looked  at  each  other, 
and  one  of  the  younger  ones  tittered  and  then  put 
her  hand  before  her  mouth. 

In  the  potato  field  across  the  road,  two  storks, 
whose  nest  for  many  springs  had  been  on  one  of  the 
roofs  now  burning,  had  placed  their  young  ones  in 
safety  and  were  watching  over  them.  The  young 
storks  were  only  a  few  days  old,  and  had  been 
thrown  out  of  the  nest  by  the  parents,  and  then 
dragged  away  out  of  danger  into  the  field,  the 
parents  mounting  guard  over  their  bruised  and 
dislocated  offspring,  and  the  whole  group  trans- 
formed in  the  glow  into  a  beautiful,  rosy,  dazzling 
white,  into  a  family  of  spiritualised,  glorified  storks, 
as  they  huddled  ruefully  together  in  their  place  of 
refuge.  Anna  saw  them  without  knowing  that 
she  saw  them ;  there  were  three  little  ones,  and 
one  was  dead.  The  princess  and  Letty  found 
her  standing  beside  them,  watching  the  roaring 
furnace  of  the  stableyard  with  parted  lips  and 
wide-open,  horror-stricken  eyes. 

"  Most  of  the  horses  were  got  out  in  time,"  said 
the  princess,  taking  Anna's  arm,  determined  that 
she  should  not  again  slip  away,  "  and  they  say  the 
buildings  are  fully  insured,  and  he  will  be  able  to 
have  much  better  ones." 

"But  the  time  lost  —  they  can't  be  built  in  a 
day " 

"  The  man  I  spoke  to  said  they  were  such  old 
buildings  and  in  such  a  bad  state  that  Axel  can 
congratulate  himself  that  they  have  been  burned. 
But  of  course  there  will  always  be  the  time  lost. 
Have  you  seen  him  ?  Let  us  go  on  a  little  —  we 
shall  be  scorched  to  cinders  here." 


340  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Both  Axel  and  Dellwig  were  superintending 
the  working  of  the  hose.  "  I  do  not  want  my  trees 
destroyed,"  he  said  to  Dellwig,  with  whom  in  the 
stress  of  the  moment  he  had  resumed  his  earlier 
manner;  "they  are  not  insured."  He  had 
watched  the  stables  go  with  an  impassiveness 
that  struck  several  of  the  bystanders  as  odd. 
Dellwig  and  many  others  of  the  dwellers  in  that 
district  were  used  to  making  a  great  noise  on  all 
occasions  great  and  small,  and  they  could  by  no 
means  believe  that  it  was  natural  to  Axel  to  remain 
so  calm  at  such  a  moment.  "  It  is  a  great  nui- 
sance," Axel  said  more  than  once;  but  that  also 
was  hardly  an  adequate  expression  of  feelings. 

"  They  are  well  insured,  I  believe  ?  "  said  Dell- 
wig. 

"Oh  yes.  I  shall  be  able  to  have  nice  tight 
buildings  in  their  place." 

"  They  were  certainly  rather  —  rather  dilapi- 
dated," said  Dellwig,  eyeing  him. 

"  They  were  very  dilapidated,"  said  Axel. 

Anna  and  the  princess  stood  a  little  way  from 
the  engines  watching  the  efforts  to  check  the 
spread  of  the  fire  for  some  time  before  Axel  noticed 
them.  Manske,  who  had  been  the  first  to  volun- 
teer as  a  link  in  the  human  chain  to  the  pump, 
bowed  and  smiled  from  his  place  at  them,  and  was 
stared  at  in  return  by  both  women,  who  wondered 
who  the  begrimed  and  friendly  individual  could 
be.  "  It  is  the  pastor,"  then  said  the  princess, 
smiling  back  at  him ;  on  which  Manske's  smiles 
and  bows  redoubled,  and  he  spilt  half  the  contents 
of  the  bucket  passing  through  his  hands. 

"  So  it  is,"  said  Anna. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  341 

"  Take  care  there,  No.  3 !  "  roared  Dellwig, 
affecting  not  to  know  who  No.  3  was,  and  glad  of 
an  opportunity  of  calling  the  parson  to  order. 
Dellwig  was  making  so  much  noise  flinging  orders 
and  reprimands  about,  that  a  stranger  would  cer- 
tainly have  taken  him  for  the  frantic  owner  of  the 
burning  property. 

"You  see  the  pastor  looks  anything  but  alarmed," 
said  the  princess.  "  If  Axel  were  losing  much  by 
this,  Manske  would  be  weeping  into  his  bucket 
instead  of  smiling  so  kindly  at  us." 

"  So  he  would,"  said  Anna,  a  little  reassured  by 
that  cheerful  and  grimy  countenance.  Her  eyes 
wandered  to  Axel,  so  cool  and  so  vigilant,  giving 
the  necessary  orders  so  quietly,  losing  no  precious 
moments  in  trying  to  save  what  was  past  saving, 
and  without  any  noise  or  any  abuse  getting  what 
he  wanted  done.  "  It  cant  be  a  good  thing,  a  fire 
like  this,"  she  said  to  herself.  "  Whatever  they 
say,  it  cant  be  a  good  thing." 

A  huge  pine-tree  was  dragged  down  at  that 
moment,  dragged  in  a  direction  away  from  its  fel- 
lows, against  a  beech,  whose  branches  it  tore  down 
in  its  fall,  ruining  the  beech  for  ever,  but  smother- 
ing a  few  of  its  own  twigs  that  had  begun  to  burn 
among  the  fresh  young  leaves.  Anna  watched 
the  havoc  going  on  among  poor  Axel's  trees  in 
silence.  "  He  caiit  not  care,"  she  said  to  herself. 
He  turned  round  quickly  at  that  moment,  as  though 
he  heard  her  thinking  of  him,  and  looked  straight 
into  her  eyes.  "  You  here  !  "  he  exclaimed,  strid- 
ing across  the  road  to  her  at  once. 

"  Yes,  we  are  here,"  replied  the  princess.  "  We 
cannot  let  our  neighbour  burn  without  coming  to 


342  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

see  if  we  can  do  anything.     But  seriously,  I  hear 
that  it  is  a  good  thing  for  you." 

"  I  prefer  the  less  good  thing  that  I  had  before, 
just  now.  But  it  is  gone.  I  shall  not  waste  time 
fretting  over  it." 

He  ran  back  again  tq  stop  something  that  was 
being  done  wrong,  but  returned  immediately  to 
tell  them  to  go  into  his  house  and  not  stand  there 
in  the  heat.  "  You  look  so  tired  —  and  anxious," 
he  said,  his  eyes  searching  Anna's  face.  "  Why 
are  you  anxious?  The  fire  has  frightened  you.? 
It  is  all  insured,  I  assure  you,  and  there  is  only 
the  bother  of  having  to  build  just  now." 

He  could  not  stay,  and  hurried  back  to  his  men. 

"  We  can  go  indoors  a  moment,"  said  the  prin- 
cess, "  and  see  what  is  going  on  in  his  house.  It 
will  be  standing  empty  and  open,  and  it  is  not 
necessary  that  he  should  suffer  losses  from  thieves 
as  well  as  from  fire.  His  Mamsell  is  like  all  bache- 
lors' Mamsells  —  losing,  I  am  sure,  no  opportunity 
of  feathering  her  nest  at  his  expense." 

Anna  thought  this  a  practical  way  of  helping 
Axel,  since  the  throwing  of  water  on  the  flames 
was  not  required  of  her.  She  turned  to  call  Letty, 
and  found  that  no  Letty  was  to  be  seen.  "  Why, 
where  is  Letty } "  she  asked,  looking  round. 

"  I  thought  she  was  behind  us,"  said  the  princess. 

"  So  did  I,"  said  Anna  anxiously. 

They  went  back  a  few  steps,  looking  for  her 
among  the  bystanders.  They  saw  her  at  last  a 
long  way  off,  her  handkerchief  still  round  her 
head  and  her  long  thick  hair  blowing  round  her 
shoulders,  rapt  in  contemplation  of  the  fiery  fur- 
nace.    Then  a  shout  went  up  from  the  people  in 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  343 

the  road,  and  they  all  ran  back  into  the  potato 
field.  Anna  and  the  princess  stood  rooted  to  the 
spot,  clutching  each  other's  hands.  Letty  looked 
round  when  she  heard  the  shout,  and  began  to  run 
too.  The  flaming  outer  wall  of  the  yard  swayed 
and  tottered  and  then  fell  outwards  with  a  terrific 
crash  and  crackling,  filling  the  road  with  a  smok- 
ing heap  of  rubbish,  and  sending  a  shower  of 
sparks  on  a  puff  of  wind  after  the  flying  spectators. 

The  princess  had  certainly  not  run  so  fast  since 
her  girlhood  as  she  did  with  Anna  towards  the 
spot  in  the  field  where  they  had  last  seen  Letty. 
A  crowd  had  gathered  round  it,  they  could  see, 
an  excited,  gesticulating  crowd.  But  they  found 
her  apparently  unhurt,  sitting  on  the  ground,  sur- 
rounded by  sympathisers,  and  with  someone's 
coat  over  her  head.  She  looked  up,  very  pale, 
but  smiling  apologetically  at  her  aunt.  "  It's  all 
gone,"  she  said,  pointing  to  her  head. 

"  What  is  gone  ?  "  cried  Anna,  dropping  on  her 
knees  beside  her. 

"  Ach  Gott,  die  Haare  —  die  herrliche^i  Haare  !  " 
lamented  a  woman  in  the  crowd.  The  smell  of 
burnt  hair  explained  what  had  happened. 

Anna  seized  her  in  her  arms.  "  You  might 
have  been  killed  —  you  might  have  been  killed," 
she  panted,  rocking  her  to  and  fro.     "  Oh,  Letty 

—  who  saved  you  .f*  " 

"  Somebody  put  this  beastly  thing  over  my  head 

—  it  smells  of  herrings.  Sparks  got  into  my  hair, 
and  it  all  frizzled  up.  Can't  I  take  this  off  t  It's 
out  now  —  and  off  too." 

The  princess  felt  all  over  her  head  through  the 
coat,  patting  and  pressing  it  carefully ;  then  she 


344  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

took  the  coat  off,  and  restored  it  with  effusive 
thanks  to  its  sheepish  owner.  There  was  a  mur- 
mur of  sympathy  from  the  women  as  Letty 
emerged,  shorn  of  those  flowing  curls  that  were 
her  only  glory.  "  Oh  Weh,  die  herrlichen  Haare  I  " 
sighed  the  women  to  one  another,  "  Oh  Weh,  oh 
Weh ! "  But  the  handkerchief  tied  so  tightly 
round  her  head  had  saved  her  from  a  worse  fate ; 
she  had  been  an  ugly  little  girl  before  —  all  that 
had  happened  was  that  she  looked  now  like  an 
ugly  little  boy. 

"I  say,  Aunt  Anna,  don't  mind,"  said  Letty; 
for  her  aunt  was  crying,  and  kissing  her,  and  tying 
and  untying  the  handkerchief,  and  arranging  and 
rearranging  it,  and  stroking  and  smoothing  the 
singed  irregular  wisps  of  hair  that  were  left  as 
though  she  loved  them.  "  I'm  frightfully  sorry  — 
I  didn't  know  you  were  so  fond  of  my  hair." 

"  Come,  we'll  go  to  the  house,"  was  all  Anna 
said,  stumbling  on  to  her  feet  and  putting  her  arm 
round  Letty.  And  they  clung  to  each  other  so 
close  that  they  could  hardly  walk. 

"  We  are  going  indoors  a  moment,"  called  the 
princess,  who  was  very  pale,  to  Axel  as  they  passed 
the  engines. 

He  smiled  across  at  her,  and  lifted  his  hat. 

"  I  never  saw  anyone  quite  so  composed,"  she 
observed  to  Anna,  trying  to  turn  her  attention  to 
other  things.  "  Your  man  Dellwig,  who  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it  all,  is  displaying  the  kind  of 
behaviour  the  people  expect  on  these  occasions. 
I  am  sure  that  Axel  has  puzzled  a  great  many 
people  to-night." 

Anna  did  not  answer.     She  was  thinking  only 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  345 

of  Letty.  What  a  slender  thread  of  chance  had 
saved  her  from  death,  from  a  dreadful  death,  the 
little  Letty  who  was  under  her  care,  for  whom  she 
was  responsible,  and  whom  she  had  quite  forgotten 
in  her  stupid  interest  in  Axel  Lohm's  affairs. 
Woman-like,  she  felt  very  angry  with  Axel.  What 
did  it  matter  to  her  whether  his  place  burnt  to 
ashes  or  not  ?  But  Letty  mattered  to  her,  her  own 
little  niece,  poor  solitary  Letty,  practically  mother- 
less, so  ugly,  and  so  full  of  good  intentions.  She 
had  scolded  her  so  much  about  Klutz ;  wretched 
Klutz,  it  was  entirely  his  fault  that  Letty  had  been 
so  silly,  and  yet  only  Letty  had  had  the  scoldings. 
Anna  held  her  closer.  In  the  light  of  that  narrow 
escape  how  trivial,  how  indifferent,  all  this  folly  of 
love-talk  and  messages  and  anger  seemed.  For  a 
short  space  she  touched  the  realities,  she  saw  life 
and  death  in  their  true  proportion;  and  even  while 
she  was  looking  at  them  with  clear  and  startled 
vision  they  were  blurred  again  into  indistinctness, 
they  faded  away  and  were  gone  —  rubbed  out  by 
the  inevitable  details  of  the  passing  hour. 

"  I  thought  as  much,"  said  the  princess,  as  they 
drew  near  the  house.  "  All  the  doors  wide  open 
and  the  place  deserted."  And  Anna  came  back 
with  a  start  from  the  reality  to  the  well-known 
dream  of  daily  life,  and  immediately  felt  as  though 
that  other  flash  had  been  the  dream  and  only  this 
were  real. 

The  hall  was  in  darkness,  but  there  was  light 
shining  through  the  chinks  of  a  door,  and  they 
groped  their  way  towards  it.  The  house  was  as 
quiet  as  death.  They  could  hear  the  distant  shouts 
of  the  men  cutting  down  the  trees  in  the  garden, 


346  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

and  the  blows  of  the  axes.  The  princess  pushed 
open  the  door  behind  which  the  Hght  was,  and  they 
found  themselves  in  Axel's  study,  where  the  can- 
dles he  had  lit  in  order  to  read  Letty's  poem  were 
still  guttering  and  flaring  in  the  draught  from  the 
open  window.  A  clock  on  the  writing-table 
showed  that  it  was  past  midnight.  The  room 
looked  very  untidy  and  ill-cared  for. 

"  A  man  without  a  wife,"  said  the  princess,  gaz- 
ing round  at  the  litter,  composed  chiefly  of  cigar- 
ashes  and  old  envelopes,  "  is  a  truly  miserable 
being.  What  condition  can  be  more  wretched 
than  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  a  Mamsell  ?  I  shall  go 
and  inquire  into  the  whereabouts  of  this  one. 
Axel  will  want  some  food  when  he  comes  in." 

She  took  up  one  of  the  candles  and  went  out. 
Letty  had  sat  down  at  once  on  the  nearest  chair, 
and  was  looking  very  pale.  Anna  untied  the 
handkerchief,  and  tried  to  arrange  what  was  left 
of  her  hair.  "  I  must  cut  off  these  uneven  ends," 
she  said,  "  but  there  won't  be  any  scissors  here." 

"  I  say,"  began  Letty,  staring  very  hard  at 
her. 

"  I  believe  you  were  terribly  scared,  you  poor 
little  creature,"  said  Anna,  struck  by  her  pale  face, 
and  passing  her  hand  tenderly  over  the  singed 
head. 

"  Oh,  not  much.  A  bit,  of  course.  But  it  was 
soon  over.  Don't  worry.  What  will  mamma  say 
to  my  head  ?  "  And  Letty's  mouth  widened  into 
a  grin  at  this  thought.  "  I  say,"  she  began  again, 
relapsing  into  solemnity. 

"  Well,  what  ?  "  smiled  Anna,  sitting  down  on 
the  same  chair  and  putting  her  arm  round  her. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  347 

"You  don't  know  the  whole  of  that  poetry 
business." 

"  That  silly  business  with  Herr  Klutz  ?  Oh, 
was  there  more  of  it  ?  Oh,  Letty,  what  did  you 
do  more  ?  I  am  so  tired  of  it,  and  of  him,  and  of 
everything.  Tell  me,  and  then  we'll  forget  it  for 
ever." 

"  I'm  afraid  you  won't  forget  it.  I'm  afraid  I'm 
a  bigger  beast  than  you  think,  Aunt  Anna,"  said 
Letty,  with  a  conviction  that  frightened  Anna. 

"  Oh,  Letty,"  she  said  faintly,  "  what  did  you  do  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  —  I  will  get  it  out  —  I  —  he  was  so 
miserable,  and  went  on  so  when  you  didn't  answer 
that  poetry  —  that  he  sent  with  the  heart,  you 
now 

"  Oh  yes,  I  know." 

"Well,  he  was  in  such  a  state  about  it  that  I  — 
that  I  made  up  a  poem,  just  to  comfort  him,  you 
know,  and  keep  him  quiet,  and  —  and  pretended 
it  came  from  you."  She  threw  back  her  head  and 
looked  up  at  her  aunt.  "  There  now,  it's  out," 
she  said  defiantly. 

Anna  was  silent  for  a  moment.  "Was  it  — 
was  it  very  affectionate  t "  she  asked  under  her 
breath.  Then  she  slipped  down  on  to  the  floor, 
and  put  both  her  arms  round  Letty.  "  Don't  tell 
me,"  she  cried,  laying  her  face  on  Letty 's  knees, 
"  I  don't  want  to  know.  Suppose  you  had  been 
dreadfully  hurt  just  now,  burnt,  or  —  or  dead, 
what  would  it  have  mattered }  Oh,  we  will  for- 
get all  that  ridiculous  nonsense,  and  only  never, 
never  be  so  silly  again.  Let  us  be  happy  to- 
gether, and  finish  with  Herr  Klutz  for  ever  —  it 
was  all   so   stupid,  and    so   little    worth   while." 


348  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

And  she  put  up  her  face,  and  they  both  began  to 
cry  and  kiss  each  other  through  their  tears.  And 
so  it  came  about  that  Letty  was  in  the  same  hour 
relieved  of  the  burden  on  her  conscience,  of  most 
of  her  hair,  and  was  taken  once  again,  and  with 
redoubled  enthusiasm,  into  Anna's  heart.  Logic 
had  never  been  Anna's  strong  point. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

When  Axel  came  in  two  hours  later,  bringing 
Dellwig  and  Manske  and  two  or  three  other  help- 
ers, farmers,  who  had  driven  across  the  plain  to 
do  what  they  could,  he  found  his  house  lit  up  and 
food  and  drink  set  out  ready  in  the  dining-room. 

Letty  and  Anna  had  had  time  to  recover  from 
their  tears  and  vows,  sundry  small  blisters  on  the 
back  of  Letty 's  neck  had  been  treated  with  cotton 
wool,  and  they  had  emerged  from  their  agitation 
to  a  calmer  state  in  w^hich  the  helping  of  the  prin- 
cess in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  make  somebody 
else's  house  comfortable  was  not  without  its  joys. 
The  Mamsell,  no  more  able  than  the  Kleinwalde 
servants  to  withstand  the  authority  of  the  prin- 
cess's name  and  eye,  had  collected  the  maids  and 
worked  with  a  will ;  and  when,  all  danger  of  the 
fire  spreading  being  over,  Axel  came  in  dirty  and 
smoky  and  scorched,  prepared  to  have  to  hunt  him- 
self in  the  dark  house  for  the  refreshment  he  could 
not  but  offer  his  helpers,  he  was  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  find  the  lamp  in  the  hall  alight,  and  to 
be  met  by  a  wide-awake  Mamsell  in  a  clean  apron 
who  proposed  to  provide  the  gentlemen  with  hot 
water.  This  was  very  attentive.  Axel  had  never 
known  her  so  thoughtful.  The  gentlemen,  how- 
ever, with  one  accord  refused  the  hot  water ;  they 
would  drink  a  glass  of  wine,  perhaps,  as  Herr  von 
Lohm  so  kindly  suggested,  and  then  go  to  their 
homes  and  beds  as  quickly  as  possible.     Manske, 

349 


350  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

by  far  the  grimiest,  was  also  the  most  decided  in 
his  refusal ;  he  was  a  godly  man,  but  he  did  not 
love  supererogatory  washings,  under  which  head- 
ing surely  a  washing  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing came.  Axel  left  them  in  the  hall  a  moment, 
and  went  into  his  study  to  fetch  cigars ;  and  there 
he  found  Letty,  hiding  behind  the  door. 

"  You  here,  young  lady  ? "  he  exclaimed  sur- 
prised, stopping  short. 

"  Don't  let  anyone  see  me,"  she  whispered. 
"  Princess  Ludwig  and  Aunt  Anna  are  in  the  din- 
ing-room. I  ran  in  here  when  I  heard  people  with 
you.     My  hair  is  all  burnt  off." 

"  What,  you  went  too  near  ?  " 

"  Sparks  came  after  me.  Don't  let  them  come 
in 

"  You  were  not  hurt  ? " 

"  No.  A  little  —  on  the  back  of  my  neck,  but 
it's  hardly  anything." 

"  I  am  very  glad  your  hair  was  burnt  off,"  said 
Axel  with  great  severity. 

"  So  am  I,"  was  the  hearty  reply.  "  The  tangles 
at  night  were  something  awful." 

He  stood  silent  for  a  moment,  the  cigar-boxes 
under  his  arm,  uncertain  whether  he  ought  not 
to  enlighten  her  as  to  the  reprehensibility  of  her 
late  conduct  in  regard  to  her  aunt  and  Klutz. 
Evidently  her  conscience  was  cloudless,  and  yet 
she  had  done  more  harm  than  was  quite  calcula- 
ble. Axel  was  fairly  certain  that  Klutz  had  set 
fire  to  the  stables.  Absolutely  certain  he  could 
not  be,  but  the  first  blaze  had  occurred  so  nearly 
at  the  moment  when  Klutz  must  have  reached 
them  on  his  way  home,  that  he  had  hardly  a  doubt 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  35 1 

about  it.  It  was  his  duty  as  Amtsvorsteher  to 
institute  inquiries.  If  these  inquiries  ended  in 
the  arrest  of  Klutz,  the  whole  silly  story  about 
Anna  would  come  out,  for  Klutz  would  be  only 
too  eager  to  explain  the  reasons  that  had  driven 
him  to  the  act ;  and  what  an  unspeakable  joy  for 
the  province,  and  what  a  delicious  excitement  for 
Stralsund !  He  could  only  hope  that  Klutz  was 
not  the  culprit,  he  could  only  hope  it  fervently 
with  all  his  heart ;  for  if  he  was,  the  child  peeping 
out  at  him  so  cheerfully  from  behind  the  door  had 
managed  to  make  an  amount  of  mischief  and 
bring  an  amount  of  trouble  on  Anna  that  stag- 
gered him.  Such  a  little  nonsense,  and  such  far- 
reaching  consequences !  He  could  not  speak 
when  he  thought  of  it,  and  strode  past  her  indig- 
nantly, and  left  the  room  without  a  word. 

"  Now  what's  the  row  with  hirn?  "  Letty  asked 
herself,  her  finger  in  her  mouth;  for  Axel  had 
looked  at  her  as  he  passed  with  very  grave  and 
angry  eyes. 

The  men  waiting  in  the  hall  were  slightly  dis- 
concerted, on  being  taken  into  the  dining-room, 
to  find  the  Kleinwalde  ladies  there.  None  of 
them,  except  Manske,  liked  ladies ;  and  ladies  in 
the  small  hours  of  the  morning  were  a  special 
weariness  to  the  flesh.  Dellwig,  having  made 
his  two  deep  bows  to  them,  looked  meaningly  at 
his  friends  the  other  farmers;  Miss  Estcourt's 
private  engagement  to  Lohm  seemed  to  be  placed 
beyond  a  doubt  by  her  presence  in  his  house  on 
this  occasion. 

"  How  delightful  of  you,"  said  Axel  to  her  in 
English. 


352  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear,"  she  repHed  stiffly  in  Ger- 
man, for  she  was  still  angry  with  him  because  of 
Letty's  hair,  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  will 
have  no  losses  from  this." 

"  Losses  !  "  cried  Manske.  "  On  the  contrary, 
it  is  the  best  thing  that  could  happen  —  the  very 
best  thing.  Those  stables  have  long  been  almost 
unfit  for  use,  tierr  von  Lohm,  and  I  can  say  from 
my  heart  that  I  was  glad  to  see  them  go.  They 
were  all  to  pieces  even  in  your  father's  time." 

"  Yes,  they  ought  to  have  been  rebuilt  long  ago, 
but  one  has  not  always  the  money  in  one's  pocket. 
Help  yourself,  my  dear  pastor." 

"  Who  is  the  enemy  ?  "  broke  in  Dellwig's  harsh 
voice. 

"  Ah,  who  indeed  ? "  said  Manske,  looking  sad. 
"  That  is  the  melancholy  side  of  the  affair  —  that 
someone,  presumably  of  my  parish,  should  com- 
mit such  a  crime." 

"He  has  done  me  a  great  service,  anyhow," 
said  Axel,  filling  the  glasses. 

"  He  has  imperilled  his  immortal  soul,"  said 
Manske. 

"  Have  you  such  an  enemy  .f*  "  asked  Anna,  sur- 
prised. 

"  I  did  not  know  it.  Most  likely  it  was  some 
poor,  half-witted  devil,  or  perhaps  —  perhaps  a 
child." 

"  But  I  saw  the  blaze  immediately  after  I  passed 
you,"  said  Dell  wig.  "  You  were  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  the  stables,  going  home.  I  had  hardly 
reached  them  when  the  fire  broke  out.  Did  you 
then  see  no  one  on  the  road  ? " 

"  No,  I  did  not,"  said  Axel  shortly.     There  was 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  353 

an  aggressive  note  in  Dellwig's  voice  that  made 
him  fear  he  was  going  to  be  very  zealous  in  help- 
ing to  bring  the  delinquent  to  justice. 

"  It  was  the  supper  hour,"  said  Dellwig,  musing, 
"  and  the  men  would  all  be  indoors.  Had  you 
been  to  the  stables,  gnddiger  Herr  ?  " 

"  No,  I  had  not.  Take  another  glass  of  wine. 
A  cigar  .-^  Whoever  it  was,  he  has  done  me  a 
good  turn." 

"  Beyond  all  doubt  he  has,"  said  Dellwig,  his 
eyes  fixed  on  Axel  with  an  odd  expression. 

"  Some  of  us  would  have  no  objection  to  the 
same  thing  happening  at  our  places,"  remarked 
one  of  the  farmers  jocosely. 

"  No  objection  whatever,"  agreed  another  with 
a  laugh. 

"  If  the  man  could  be  trusted  to  display  the 
same  discrimination  ever^^where,"  said  the  third. 

"  Joke  not  about  crime,"  said  Manske,  rebuking 
them. 

"  The  discrimination  was  certainly  remarkable," 
said  Dellwig. 

"  That  is  why  I  think  it  must  have  been  done 
by  some  person  more  or  less  imbecile,"  said  Axel ; 
"  otherwise  one  of  the  good  buildings,  whose  de- 
struction would  really  have  harmed  me,  would 
have  been  chosen." 

"  He  must  be  hunted  down,  imbecile  or  not," 
said  Dellwig. 

"  I  shall  do  my  duty,"  said  Axel  stiffly. 

"  You  may  rely  on  my  help,"  said  Dellwig. 

"  You  are  very  good,"  said  Axel. 

Dellwig's  voice  had  something  ominous  about 
it  that  made  Anna  shiver.     What  a  detestable 

2A 


354  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

man  he  was,  always  and  at  all  times.  His  whole 
manner  to-night  struck  her  as  specially  offensive. 
"  What  will  be  done  to  the  poor  wretch  when  he 
is  caught  ?  "  she  asked  Axel. 

"  He  will  be  imprisoned,"  Dellwig  answered 
promptly. 

She  turned  her  back  on  him.  "  Even  though 
he  is  half-witted  ? "  she  said  to  Axel.  "  Are  you 
obliged  to  look  for  him.^*  Can't  you  leave  him 
alone  ?     He  has  done  you  a  service,  after  all." 

"  I  must  look  for  him,"  said  Axel ;  "  it  is  my 
duty  as  Amtsvorsteher." 

"  And  the  gracious  Miss  should  consider " 

shouted  Dellwig  from  behind. 

"  I'll  consider  nothing,"  said  Anna,  turning  to 
him  quickly. 

"  —  should  consider  the  demands  of  jus- 
tice   " 

"  First  the  demands  of  humanity,"  said  Anna, 
her  back  to  him. 

"  Noble,"  murmured  Manske. 

"  The  gracious  Miss's  sentiments  invariably  do 
credit  to  her  heart,"  said  Dellwig,  bowing  pro- 
foundly. 

"  But  not  to  her  head,  he  thinks,"  said  Anna 
to  Axel  in  English,  faintly  smiling. 

"  Don't  talk  to  him,"  Axel  replied  in  a  low 
voice ;  "  the  man  so  palpably  hates  us  both.  You 
must  go  home.  Where  is  your  carriage  ?  Prin- 
cess, take  her  home." 

'^  Ac/i,  Herr  Dellwig,  seien  Sie  so  freundlich 
"  began  the  princess  mellifluously ;  and  de- 
spatched him  in  search  of  Fritz. 

When  they  reached  Kleinwalde,  silent,  worn- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  355 

out,  and  only  desiring  to  creep  upstairs  and  into 
their  beds,  they  were  met  by  Frau  von  Treumann 
and  the  baroness,  who  both  wore  injured  and  dis- 
approving faces.  Letty  slipped  up  to  her  room 
at  once,  afraid  of  criticisms  of  her  hairlessness. 

"  We  have  waited  for  you  all  night,  Anna,"  said 
Frau  von  Treumann  in  an  aggrieved  voice. 

"  You  oughtn't  to  have,"  said  Anna  wearily. 

"  We  could  not  suppose  that  you  were  really 
looking  at  the  fire  all  this  time,"  said  the 
baroness. 

"And  we  were  anxious,"  said  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann. "  My  dear,  you  should  not  make  us 
anxious." 

"  You  might  have  left  word,  or  taken  us  with 
you,"  said  the  baroness. 

"  We  are  quite  as  much  interested  in  Herr  von 
Lohm  as  Letty  or  Princess  Ludwig  can  be,"  said 
Frau  von  Treumann. 

"  Nobody  could  tell  us  here  for  certain  whether 
you  had  really  gone  there  or  not." 

"  Nor  could  anybody  give  us  any  information  as 
to  the  extent  of  the  disaster." 

"  We  presumed  the  princess  was  with  you,  but 
even  that  was  not  certain." 

"  My  dear  baroness,"  murmured  the  princess, 
untying  her  shawl,  "  only  you  would  have  had  a 
doubt  of  it." 

"  The  reflection  in  the  sky  faded  hours  ago," 
said  Frau  von  Treumann. 

"  And  yet  you  did  not  return,"  said  the  baron- 
ess.    "  Where  did  you  go  afterwards  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  tell  you  everything  to-morrow.  Good- 
night," said  Anna,  candle  in  hand. 


356  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  What !  Now  that  we  have  waited,  and  in  such 
anxiety,  you  will  tell  us  nothing  ? " 

"  There  really  is  nothing  to  tell.  And  I  am  so 
tired  —  good-night." 

"  We  have  kept  the  servants  up  and  the  kettle 
boiling  in  case  you  should  want  coffee." 

"  That  was  very  kind,  but  I  only  want  bed. 
Good-night." 

"  We  too  were  weary,  but  you  see  we  have 
waited  in  spite  of  it." 

"  Oh,  you  shouldn't  have.  You  will  be  so  tired. 
Good-night." 

She  went  upstairs,  pulling  herself  up  each  step 
by  the  baluster.  The  clock  on  the  landing  struck 
half-past  three.  Was  it  not  Napoleon,  she  thought, 
who  said  something  to  the  point  about  three- 
o  clock-in-the-morning  courage  ?  Had  no  one 
ever  said  anything  to  the  point  about  three- 
o'clock-in-the-morning  love  for  one's  fellow- 
creatures  ?  "  Good-night,"  she  said  once  more, 
turning  her  head  and  nodding  wearily  to  them  as 
they  watched  her  from  below  with  indignant  faces. 

She  glanced  at  the  clock,  and  went  into  her 
room  dejectedly ;  for  she  had  made  a  startling  dis- 
covery: at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  her  feel- 
inof  towards  the  Chosen  was  one  of  indifference 
verging  on  dislike. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

Looking  up  from  her  breakfast  the  morning 
after  the  fire  to  see  who  it  was  riding  down  the 
street,  Frau  Manske  beheld  Dellwig  coming  tow- 
ards her  garden  gate.  Her  husband  was  in  his 
dressing-gown  and  sHppers,  a  costume  he  affected 
early  in  the  day,  and  they  were  taking  their  coffee 
this  fine  weather  at  a  table  in  their  roomy  porch. 
There  was,  therefore,  no  possibility  of  hiding  the 
dressing-gown,  nor  yet  the  fact  that  her  cap  was 
not  as  fresh  as  a  cap  on  which  the  great  Dellwig's 
eyes  were  to  rest,  should  be.  She  knew  that  Dell- 
wig was  not  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  like  Herr 
von  Lohm,  but  he  was  a  very  magnificent  specimen 
of  those  of  the  second  order,  and  she  thought  him 
much  more  imposing  than  Axel,  whose  quiet  ways 
she  had  never  understood.  Dellwig  snubbed  her 
so  systematically  and  so  brutally  that  she  could  not 
but  respect  and  admire  him :  she  was  one  of  those 
women  who  enjoy  kissing  the  rod.  In  a  great  flut- 
ter she  hurried  to  the  gate  to  open  it  for  him, 
receiving  in  return  neither  thanks  nor  greeting. 
"  Good-morning,  good-morning,"  she  said,  bowing 
repeatedly.     "  A  fine  morning,  Herr  Dellwig." 

"  Where's  Klutz  ?  "  he  asked  curtly,  neither 
getting  off  his  horse  nor  taking  off  his  hat. 

"  Oh,  the  poor  young  man,  Herr  Dellwig !  "  she 
began  with  uplifted  hands.     "  He  has  had  a  letter 

from  home,  and  is  much  upset.     His  father " 

357 


358  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Where  is  he  ?  " 

"  His  father  ?     In  bed,  and  not  expected  to "" 

"Where's  Klutz,  I  say  —  young  Klutz?  Herr 
Manske,  just  step  down  here  a  minute  —  good- 
morning.     I  want  to  see  your  vicar." 

"  My  vicar  has  had  bad  news  from  home,  and  is 
gone." 

"Gone?" 

"  This  very  morning.  Poor  fellow,  his  aged 
father " 

"  I  don't  care  a  curse  for  his  aged  father.  What 
train  ? " 

"  The  half-past  nine  train.  He  went  in  the  post- 
cart  at  seven." 

Dellwig  jerked  his  horse  round,  and  without 
a  word  rode  away  in  the  direction  of  Stralsund. 
"I'll  catch  him  yet," he  thought,  and  rode  as  hard 
as  he  could. 

"  What  can  he  want  with  the  vicar  ?  "  wondered 
Frau  Manske. 

"  A  rough  manner,  but  I  doubt  not  a  good 
heart,"  said  her  husband,  sighing ;  and  he  folded 
his  flapping  dressing-gown  pensively  about  his 
legs. 

Klutz  was  on  the  platform  waiting  for  the  Berlin 
train,  due  in  five  minutes,  when  Dellwig  came  up 
behind  and  laid  a  hand  on  his  shoulder. 

"  What !  Are  you  going  to  jump  out  of  your 
skin  ?  "    Dellwig  inquired  with  a  burst  of  laughter. 

Klutz  stared  at  him  speechlessly  after  that  first 
start,  waiting  for  what  would  follow.  His  face  was 
ghastly. 

"  Father  so  bad,  eh  ? "  said  Dellwig  heartily. 
"  Nerves  all  gone,  what  ?     Well,  it's  enough  to 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  359 

make  a  boy  look  pale  to  have  his  father  on  his 
last " 

"  What  do  you  want  ?  "  whispered  Klutz  with 
pale  lips.  Several  persons  who  knew  Dellwig 
were  on  the  platform,  and  were  staring. 

"  Why,"  said  Dellwig,  sinking  his  voice  a  little, 
"  yoa  have  heard  of  the  fire  —  I  did  not  see  you 
helping,  by  the  way  ?  You  were  with  Herr  von 
Lohm  last  night  —  don't  look  so  frightened,  man 
—  if  I  did  not  know  about  your  father  I'd  think 
there  was  something  on  your  mind.  I  only  want 
to  ask  you  —  there  is  a  strange  rumour  going 
about " 

"  I  am  going  home  —  home,  do  you  hear.? "  said 
Klutz  wildly. 

"  Certainly  you  are.  No  one  wants  to  stop 
you.  Who  do  you  think  they  say  set  fire  to  the 
stables } " 

Klutz  looked  as  though  he  would  faint. 

"  They  say  Lohm  did  it  himself,"  said  Dellwig 
in  a  low  voice,  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  young  man's 
face. 

Klutz's  ears  burnt  suddenly  bright  red.  He 
looked  down,  looked  up,  looked  over  his  shoulder 
in  the  direction  from  whence  the  train  would 
come.  Small  cold  beads  of  agitation  stood  out 
on  his  narrow  forehead. 

"  The  point  is,"  said  Dellwig,  who  had  not 
missed  a  movement  of  that  twitching  face,  "that 
you  must  have  been  with  Lohm  nearly  till  the 
time  when  —  you  went  straight  to  him  after  leav- 
mg  us : 

Klutz  bowed  his  head. 

"  Then  you  couldn't  have  left  him  long  before 


36o  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

it  broke  out.  I  met  him  myself  between  the 
stables  and  his  gate  five  minutes,  two  minutes, 
before  the  fire.  He  went  past  without  a  word,  in 
a  great  hurry,  as  though  he  hoped  I  had  not  rec- 
ognised him.  Now  tell  me  what  you  know  about 
it.  Just  tell  me  if  you  saw  anything.  It  is  to 
both  our  interests  to  cut  his  claws." 

Klutz  pressed  his  hands  together,  and  looked 
round  again  for  the  train. 

"  Do  you  know  what  will  certainly  happen  if 
you  try  to  be  generous  and  shield  him  ?  He'll 
^2Cj  you  did  it,  and  so  get  rid  of  you  and  hush  up 
the  affair  with  Miss  Estcourt.  I  can  see  by  your 
face  you  know  who  did  it.  Everyone  is  saying 
it  is  Lohm." 

''But  why?     Why  should  he?     Why  should 

he   burn    his    own "   stammered    Klutz,    in 

dreadful  agitation. 

"  Why  ?  Because  they  were  in  ruins,  and  well 
insured.  Because  he  had  no  money  for  new  ones ; 
and  because  now  the  insurance  company  will  give 
him  the  money.  The  thing  is  so  plain  —  I  am 
so  convinced  that  he  did  it " 

They  heard  the  train  coming.  Klutz  stooped 
down  quickly  and  clutched  his  bag.  "  No,  no," 
said  Dellwig,  catching  his  arm  and  gripping  it 
tight,  "  I  shall  not  let  you  go  till  you  say  what  you 
know.  You  or  Lohm  to  be  punished  —  which  do 
you  prefer  ?  " 

Klutz  gave  Dellwig  a  despairing,  hunted  look. 

"  He  —  he "  he  began,  struggling  to  get  the 

words  over  his  dry  lips. 

"  He  did  it  ?     You  know  it  ?     You  saw  it  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  saw  it  —  I  saw  him " 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  361 

Klutz  burst  into  a  wild  fit  of  sobbing. 

"  Armer  Junge^'  cried  Dell  wig  very  loud,  patting 
his  back  very  hard.  "  It  is  indeed  terrible  — 
one's  father  so  ill  —  on  his  death-bed  —  and  such 

a   long   journey   of   suspense    before   you " 

And  sympathising  at  the  top  of  his  voice  he 
looked  for  an  empty  compartment,  hustled  him 
into  it,  pushing  him  up  the  high  steps  and  throw- 
ing his  bag  in  after  him,  and  then  stood  talking 
loudly  of  sick  fathers  till  the  last  moment.  "  I 
trust  you  will  find  the  Herr  Papa  better  than 
you  expect,"  he  shouted  after  the  moving  train. 
"Don't  give  way  —  don't  give  way.  That  is 
our  vicar,"  he  exclaimed  to  an  acquaintance  who 
was  standing  near ;  "an  only  son,  and  he  has  just 
heard  that  his  father  is  dying.  He  is  overwhelmed, 
poor  devil,  with  grief." 

To  his  wife  on  his  arrival  home  he  said,  "  My 
dear  Theresa,"  —  a  mode  of  address  only  used  on 
the  rare  occasions  of  supremest  satisfaction  —  "  my 
dear  Theresa,  you  may  set  your  mind  at  rest  about 
our  friend  Lohm.  The  Miss  will  never  marry  him, 
and  he  himself  will  not  trouble  us  much  longer." 
And  they  had  a  short  conversation  in  private,  and 
later  on  at  dinner  they  opened  a  bottle  of  cham- 
pagne, and  explaining  to  the  servant  that  it  was 
an  aunt's  birthday,  drank  the  aunt's  health  over 
and  over  again,  and  were  merrier  than  they  had 
been  for  years. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

It  was  an  odd  and  a  nearly  invariable  conse- 
quence of  Anna's  cold  morning  bath  that  she 
made  resolutions  in  great  numbers.  The  morn- 
ing after  the  fire  there  were  more  of  them  than 
ever.  In  a  glow  she  assured  herself  that  she  was 
not  going  to  allow  dejection  and  discouragement 
to  take  possession  of  her  so  easily,  that  she  would 
not,  in  future,  be  so  much  the  slave  of  her  bodily 
condition,  growing  selfish,  indifferent,  unkind,  in 
proportion  as  she  grew  tired.  What,  she  asked, 
tying  her  waist-ribbon  with  great  vigour,  was  the 
use  of  having  a  soul  and  its  longings  after  per- 
fection if  it  was  so  absolutely  the  slave  of  its 
encasing  body,  if  it  only  received  permission  from 
the  body  to  flutter  its  wings  a  little  in  those  rare 
moments  when  its  master  was  completely  com- 
fortable and  completely  satisfied  ?  She  was 
ashamed  of  herself  for  being  so  easily  affected 
by  the  heat  and  stress  of  the  days  with  the 
Chosen.  How  was  it  that  her  ideals  were  crushed 
out  of  sight  continually  by  the  mere  weight  of  the 
details  of  everyday  existence?  She  would  keep 
them  more  carefully  in  view,  pursue  them  with  a 
more  unfaltering  patience  —  in  a  word,  she  was 
going  to  be  wise.  Life  was  such  a  little  thing, 
she  reflected,  so  very  quickly  done ;  how  foolish, 
then,  to  forget  so  constantly  that  everything  that 
vexed  her  and  made  her  sorry  was  flying  past  and 

362 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  363 

away  even  while  it  grieved  her,  dwindling  in  the 
distance  with  every  hour,  and  never  coming  back. 
What  she  had  done  and  suffered  last  year,  how 
indifferent,  of  what  infinitely  little  importance  it 
was,  now ;  and  yet  she  had  been  very  strenuous 
about  it  at  the  time,  inclined  to  resist  and  strug- 
gle, taking  it  over-much  to  heart,  acting  as  though 
it  were  always  going  to  be  there.  Oh,  she  would 
be  wise  in  future,  enjoying  all  there  was  to  enjoy, 
loving  all  there  was  to  love,  and  shutting  her  eyes 
to  the  rest.  She  would  not,  for  instance,  expect 
more  from  her  Chosen  than  they,  being  as  they 
were,  could  give.  Obviously  they  could  not  give 
her  more  than  they  possessed,  either  of  love,  or 
comprehension,  or  charitableness,  or  anything 
else  that  was  precious ;  and  it  was  because  she 
looked  for  more  that  she  was  for  ever  feeling  dis- 
appointed. She  would  take  them  as  they  were,  being 
happy  in  what  they  did  give  her,  and  ignoring  what 
was  less  excellent.  She  herself  was  irritating,  she 
was  sure,  and  often  she  saw  did  produce  an  irritat- 
ing effect  on  the  Chosen.  Of  sundry  minor  fail- 
ings, so  minor  that  she  was  ashamed  of  having 
noticed  them,  but  which  had  yet  done  much 
towards  making  the  days  difBcult,  she  tried  not 
to  think.  Indeed,  they  could  hardly  be  made 
the  subject  of  resolutions  at  all,  they  were  so 
very  trivial.  They  included  a  habit  Frau  von 
Treumann  had  of  shutting  every  window  and 
door  that  stood  open,  whatever  the  weather  was, 
and  however  pointedly  the  others  gasped  for  air ; 
the  exceedingly  odd  behaviour,  forced  upon  her 
notice  four  times  a  day,  of  Fraulein  Kuhrauber 
at  table ;  and  an  insatiable  curiosity  displayed  by 


364  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  baroness  in  regard  to  other  people's  corre- 
spondence and  servants — every  postcard  she  read, 
every  envelope  she  examined,  every  telegram,  for 
some  always  plausible  reason,  she  thought  it  her 
duty  to  open :  and  her  interest  in  the  doings  of 
the  maids  was  unquenchable.  "  These  are  little 
ways,"  thought  Anna,  "  that  don't  matter."  And 
she  thought  it  impatiently,  for  the  little  ways  per- 
sisted in  obtruding  themselves  on  her  remembrance 
in  the  middle  of  her  fine  plans  of  future  wisdom. 
"  If  we  could  all  get  outside  our  bodies,  even  for 
one  day,  and  simply  go  about  in  our  souls,  how 
nice  it  would  be  !  "  she  sighed  ;  but  meanwhile  the 
souls  of  the  Chosen  were  still  enveloped  in  aggres- 
sive bodies  that  continued  to  shut  windows,  open 
telegrams,  and  convey  food  into  their  mouths  on 
knives. 

The  one  belonging  to  Frau  von  Treumann 
was  at  that  moment  engaged  in  writing  with 
feverish  haste  to  Karlchen,  bidding  him  lose  no 
time  in  coming,  for  mischief  was  afoot,  and  Anna 
was  showing  an  alarming  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  that  specious  hypocrite  Lohm.  "  Come  unex- 
pectedly," she  wrote ;  "  it  will  be  better  to  take 
her  by  surprise ;  and  above  all  things  come  at 
once." 

She  gave  the  letter  herself  to  the  postman,  and 
then,  having  nothing  to  do  but  needlework  that 
need  not  be  done,  and  feeling  out  of  sorts  after 
the  long  night's  watch,  and  uneasy  about  Axel 
Lohm's  evident  attraction  for  Anna,  she  went 
into  the  drawing-room  and  spent  the  morning 
elaborately  differing  from  the  baroness. 

They  differed  often ;  it  could  hardly  be  called 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  365 

quarrelling,  but  there  was  a  continual  fire  kept  up 
between  them  of  remarks  that  did  not  make  for 
peace.  Over  their  needlework  they  addressed 
those  observations  to  each  other  that  were  most 
calculated  to  annoy.  Frau  von  Treumann  would 
boast  of  her  ancestral  home  at  Kadenstein,  its 
magnificence,  and  the  style  in  which,  with  a  su- 
perb disregard  for  expense,  her  brother  kept  it 
up,  well  knowing  that  the  baroness  had  had  no 
home  more  ancestral  than  a  flat  in  a  provincial 
town ;  and  the  baroness  would  retort  by  relating, 
as  an  instance  of  the  grievous  slanderousness  of  so- 
called  friends,  a  palpably  malicious  story  she  had 
heard  of  manure  heaps  before  the  ancestral  door, 
and  of  unprevented  poultry  in  the  Schloss  itself. 
Once,  stirred  beyond  the  bounds  of  prudence  en- 
joined by  Karlchen,  Frau  von  Treumann  had 
begun  to  sympathise  wdth  the  Elmreich  family's 
misfortune  in  including  a  member  like  Lolli ;  but 
had  been  so  much  frightened  by  her  victim's  im- 
mediate and  dreadful  pallor  that  she  had  turned 
it  off,  deciding  to  leave  the  revelation  of  her  full 
knowledge  of  Lolli  to  Karlchen. 

The  only  occasions  on  which  they  agreed  were 
when  together  they  attacked  Fraulein  Kuhrau- 
ber;  and  more  than  once  already  that  hapless 
young  woman  had  gone  away  to  cry.  Anna's 
thoughts  had  been  filled  lately  by  other  things, 
and  she  had  not  paid  much  attention  to  what  was 
being  talked  about;  but  yet  it  seemed  to  her  that 
Frau  von  Treumann  and  the  baroness  had  dis- 
covered a  subject  on  which  Fraulein  Kuhrauber 
was  abnormally  sensitive  and  secretive,  and  that 
again  and  again  when  they  were  tired  of  sparring 


366  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

together  they  returned  to  this  subject,  always  in 
amiable  tones  and  with  pleasant  looks,  and  always 
reducing  the  poor  Fraulein  to  a  pitiable  state  of 
confusion;  which  state  being  reached,  and  she 
gone  out  to  hide  her  misery  in  her  bedroom,  they 
would  look  at  each  other  and  smile. 

In  all  that  concerned  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  they 
were  in  perfect  accord,  and  absolutely  pitiless. 
It  troubled  Anna,  for  the  Fraulein  was  the  one 
member  of  the  trio  who  was  really  happy  —  so 
long,  that  is,  as  the  others  left  her  alone.  Invig- 
orated by  her  cold  tub  into  a  belief  in  the  pos- 
sibility of  peace-making,  she  made  one  more 
resolution :  to  establish  without  delay  concord 
between  the  three.  It  was  so  clearly  to  their 
own  advantage  to  live  together  in  harmony; 
surely  a  calm  talking-to  would  make  them  see 
that,  and  desire  it.  They  were  not  children, 
neither  were  they,  presumably,  more  unreason- 
able than  other  people ;  nor  could  they,  she 
thought,  having  suffered  so  much  themselves,  be 
intentionally  unkind.  That  very  day  she  would 
make  things  straight. 

She  could  not  of  course  dream  that  the  period- 
ical putting  to  confusion  of  Fraulein  Kuhrauber 
was  the  one  thing  that  kept  the  other  two  alive. 
They  found  life  at  Kleinwalde  terribly  dull. 
There  were  no  neighbours,  and  they  did  not  like 
forests.  The  princess  hardly  showed  herself; 
Anna  was  English,  besides  being  more  or  less  of 
a  lunatic  —  the  combination,  when  you  came  to 
think  of  it,  was  alarming,  —  and  they  soon  wearied 
of  pouring  into  each  other's  highly  sceptical  ears 
descriptions  of  the  splendours  of  their  prosperous 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  367 

days.  The  visits  of  the  parson  had  at  first  been 
a  welcome  change,  for  they  were  both  reHgious 
women  who  loved  to  impress  a  new  listener  with 
the  amount  of  their  faith  and  resignation;  but 
when  they  knew  him  a  little  better,  and  had  said 
the  same  things  several  times,  and  found  that  as 
soon  as  they  paused  he  began  to  expatiate  on  the 
advantages  and  joys  of  their  present  mode  of  life 
with  Miss  Estcourt,  of  which  no  one  had  been 
talking,  they  were  bored,  and  left  off  being  pleased 
to  see  him,  and  fell  back  for  amusement  on  their 
own  bickerings,  and  the  probing  of  Fraulein 
Kuhrauber's  tender  places. 

About  midday  Anna,  who  had  been  writing 
German  letters  all  the  morning  helped  by  the 
princess,  letters  of  inquir}^  concerning  a  new 
teacher  for  Letty,  came  round  by  the  path  out- 
side the  drawing-room  window  looking  for  the 
Chosen,  and  prepared  to  talk  to  them  of  concord. 
The  window  w^as  shut,  and  she  knocked  on  the 
pane,  tr3ang  to  see  into  the  shady  room.  It  was 
a  broiling  day,  and  she  had  no  hat ;  therefore 
she  knocked  again,  and  held  her  hands  above 
her  head,  for  the  sun  was  intolerable.  She  wore 
one  of  her  last  summer's  dresses,  a  lilac  muslin 
that  in  spite  of  its  age  seemed  in  Kleinwalde  to 
be  quite  absurdly  pretty.  She  herself  looked 
prettier  than  ever  out  there  in  the  Hght,  the  sun 
beating  down  on  her  burnished  hair. 

"  Anna  wants  to  come  in,"  said  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann,  looking  up  from  her  embroidery  at  the 
figure  in  the  sun. 

''  I  suppose  she  does,"  said  the  baroness  tran- 
quilly. 


368  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Neither  of  them  moved. 

Anna  knocked  again. 

"  She  will  be  sunstruck,"  observed  Frau  von 
Treumann. 

"  I  think  she  will,"  agreed  the  baroness. 

Neither  of  them  moved. 

Anna  stooped  down,  and  tried  to  look  into  the 
room,  but  could  see  nothing.  She  knocked  again ; 
waited  a  moment ;  and  then  went  away. 

The  two  ladies  embroidered  in  silence. 

"  Absurd  old  maid,"  Frau  von  Treumann  thought, 
glancing  at  the  baroness.  "  As  though  a  married 
woman  of  my  age  and  standing  could  get  up  and 
open  windows  when  she  is  in  the  room." 

"  Ridiculous  old  Treumann,"  thought  the  baron- 
ess, outwardly  engrossed  by  her  work.  "  What 
does  she  think,  I  wonder  ?  I  shall  teach  her  that 
I  am  as  good  as  herself,  and  am  not  here  to  open 
windows  any  more  than  she  is." 

"Why,  you  are  here,"  said  Anna,  surprised, 
coming  in  at  the  door. 

"  Where  have  you  been  all  the  morning  ?  "  in- 
quired Frau  von  Treumann  amiably.  "  We  hardly 
ever  see  you,  dear  Anna.  I  hope  you  have  come 
now  to  sit  with  us  a  little  while.  Come,  sit  next 
to  me,  and  let  us  have  a  nice  chat." 

She  made  room  for  her  on  the  sofa. 

"  Where  is  Emilie  }  "  Anna  asked ;  Emilie  was 
Fraulein  Kuhrauber,  and  Anna  was  the  only 
person  in  the  house  who  called  her  so. 

"  She  came  in  some  time  ago,  but  went  away  at 
once.     She  does  not,  I  fear,  feel  at  ease  with  us." 

"  That  is  exactly  what  I  want  to  talk  about," 
said  Anna. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  369 

"  Is  it  ?  Why,  how  strange.  Last  night,  while 
we  were  waiting  for  you,  the  baroness  and  I  had 
a  serious  conversation  about  Fraulein  Kuhrauber, 
and  we  decided  to  tell  you  what  conclusions  we 
came  to  on  the  first  opportunity." 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  baroness. 

"  It  is  surprising  that  Princess  Ludwig  should 
not  have  opened  your  eyes." 

"  It  is  truly  surprising,"  said  the  baroness. 

"  But  they  are  open.  And  they  have  seen  that 
you  are  not  very  —  not  quite  —  well,  not  very  kind 
to  poor  Emilie.     Don't  you  like  her  ?  " 

"  My  dear  Anna,  we  have  found  it  quite  impos- 
sible to  like  Fraulein  Kuhrauber." 

"  Or  even  endure  her,"  amended  the  baroness. 

"  And  yet  I  never  saw  a  kinder,  more  absolutely 
amiable  creature,"  said  Anna. 

"  You  are  deceived  in  her,"  said  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann. 

"  We  have  found  out  that  she  is  here  under  false 
pretences,"  said  the  baroness. 

"  Which,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann,  unable  to 
forbear  glancing  at  the  baroness,  "  is  a  very  dread- 
ful thing." 

"  Certainly,"  agreed  the  baroness. 

Anna  looked  from  one  to  the  other.  "  Well  ?  " 
she  said,  as  they  did  not  go  on.  Then  the  thought 
of  her  peace-making  errand  came  into  her  mind, 
and  her  certainty  that  she  only  needed  to  talk 
quietly  to  these  two  in  order  to  convince.  "  What 
do  you  think  I  came  in  to  say  to  you  t  "  she  said, 
with  a  low  laugh  in  which  there  was  no  mirth. 
"  I  was  going  to  propose  that  you  should  both  be- 
gin now  to  love  Emilie.     You  have  made  her  cry 

2B 


370  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

SO  often  —  I  have  seen  her  coming  out  of  this  room 
so  often  with  red  eyes  —  that  I  was  sure  you  must 
be  tired  of  that  now,  and  would  like  to  begin  to 
live  happily  with  her,  loving  her  for  all  that  is  so 
good  in  her,  and  not  minding  the  rest." 

"  My  dear  Anna,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann 
testily,  "  it  is  out  of  the  question  that  ladies  of  birth 
and  breeding  should  tolerate  her." 

"  Certainly  it  is,"  emphatically  agreed  the  baron- 
ess. 

"  And  why  ?  Isn't  she  a  woman  like  ourselves  ? 
Wasn't  she  poor  and  miserable  too  ?  And  won't 
she  go  to  heaven  by  and  by,  just  as  we,  I  hope, 
shall  ?  " 

They  thought  this  profane. 

"We  shall  all,  I  trust,  meet  in  heaven,"  said 
Frau  von  Treumann  gently.  Then  she  went  on, 
clearing  her  throat,  "  But  meanwhile  we  think  it 
our  duty  to  ask  you  if  you  know  what  her  father 

was." 

"  He  was  a  man  of  letters,"  said  Anna,  remem- 
bering the  very  words  of  Fraulein  Kuhrauber's 
reply  to  her  inquiries. 

"  Exactly.     But  of  what  letters?  " 

"  She  tried  to  give  us  that  same  answer,"  said 
the  baroness. 

"  Of  what  letters  ?  "  repeated  Anna,  looking 
puzzled. 

"  He  carried  all  the  letters  he  ever  had  in  a 
bag,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann. 

"  In  a  bag  ?  " 

"  In  a  word,  dear  child,  he  was  a  postman,  and 
she  has  told  you  untruths." 

There  was  a  silence.     Anna  pushed  at  a  neigh- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  371 

bouring  footstool  with  the  toe  of  her  shoe.  "  It  is 
not  pretty,"  she  said  after  a  while,  her  eyes  on  the 
footstool,  "to  tell  untruths." 

"  Certainly  it  is  not,"  agreed  the  baroness. 

"  Especially  in  this  case,"  said  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann. 

"  Yes,  especially  in  this  case,"  said  Anna,  look- 
ing up. 

"  We  thought  you  could  not  know  the  truth,  and 
felt  certain  you  would  be  shocked.  Now  you  will 
understand  how  impossible  it  is  for  ladies  of  family 
to  associate  with  such  a  person,  and  we  are  sure 
that  you  will  not  ask  us  to  do  so,  but  will  send  her 
away." 

"  No,"  said  Anna,  in  a  low  voice. 

"  No  what,  dear  child  ? "  inquired  Frau  von 
Treumann  sweetly. 

"  I  cannot  send  her  away." 

"  You  cannot  send  her  away  ?  "  they  cried  to- 
gether. Both  let  their  work  drop  into  their  laps, 
and  both  stared  blankly  at  Anna,  who  looked  at 
the  footstool. 

"  Have  you  made  a  lifelong  contract  with  her  ?  " 
asked  Frau  von  Treumann,  with  great  heat,  no 
such  contract  having  been  made  in  her  own  case. 

"  I  did  not  quite  say  what  I  mean,"  said  Anna, 
looking  up  again.  "  I  do  not  mean  that  I  cannot 
really  send  her  away,  for  of  course  I  can  if  I  choose. 
Exactly  what  I  mean  is  that  I  will  not." 

There  was  a  pause.  Neither  of  the  ladies  had 
expected  such  an  attitude. 

"  This  is  very  serious,"  then  observed  Frau  von 
Treumann  helplessly.  She  took  up  her  work  again 
and  pulled  at  the  stitches,  making  knots  in  the 


372  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

thread.  Both  she  and  the  baroness  had  felt  so 
certain  that  Anna  would  be  properly  incensed 
when  she  heard  the  truth.  Her  manner  without 
doubt  suggested  displeasure,  but  the  displeasure, 
strangely  enough,  seemed  to  be  directed  against 
themselves  instead  of  Fraulein  Kuhrauber.  What 
could  they,  with  dignity,  do  next  ?  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann  felt  angry  and  perplexed.  She  remembered 
Karlchen's  advice  in  regard  to  ultimatums,  and 
wished  she  had  remembered  it  sooner;  but  who 
could  have  imagined  the  extent  of  Anna's  folly  ? 
Never,  she  reflected,  had  she  met  anyone  quite 
so  foolish. 

"  It  is  a  case  for  the  police,"  burst  out  the  baron- 
ess passionately,  all  the  pride  of  all  the  Elmreichs 
surging  up  in  revolt  against  a  fate  threatening  to 
condemn  her  to  spend  the  rest  of  her  days  with 
the  progeny  of  a  postman.  "  Your  advertisement 
specially  mentioned  good  birth  as  essential,  and 
she  is  here  under  false  pretences.  You  have  the 
proofs  in  her  letters.  She  is  within  reach  of  the 
arm  of  the  law." 

Anna  could  not  help  smiling.  "  Don't  denounce 
her,"  she  said.  "  I  should  be  appalled  if  anything 
approaching  the  arm  of  the  law  got  into  my  house, 
ril  burn  the  proofs  after  dinner."  Then  she  turned 
to  Frau  von  Treumann.  "  If  you  think  it  over," 
she  said,  "  I  know  you  will  not  wish  me  to  be  so 
merciless,  so  pitiless,  as  to  send  Emilie  back  to 
misery  only  because  her  father,  who  has  been 
dead  thirty  years,  was  a  postman." 

"  But,  Anna,  you  must  be  reasonable  —  you  must 
look  at  the  other  side.  No  Treumann  has  ever 
yet  been  required  to  associate " 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  373 

"  But  if  he  was  a  good  man  ?  If  he  did  his  work 
honestly,  and  said  his  prayers,  and  behaved  him- 
self ?  We  have  no  reason  for  doubting  that  he 
was  a  most  excellent  postman,"  she  went  on,  a 
twinkle  in  her  eye ;  "  punctual,  diligent,  and  alto- 
gether praiseworthy." 

"  Then  you  object  to  nothing?  cried  the  baron- 
ess with  extraordinary  bitterness.  "  You  draw  the 
line  nowhere  .f*  All  the  traditions  and  prejudices 
of  gentlefolk  are  supremely  indifferent  to  you  ? " 

"  Oh,  I  object  to  a  great  many  things.  I  would 
have  liked  it  better  if  the  postman  had  really  been 
the  literary  luminary  poor  Emilie  said  he  was  — 
for  her  sake,  and  my  sake,  and  your  sakes.  And 
I  don't  like  untruths,  and  never  shall.  But  I  do 
like  Emilie,  and  I  forgive  it  all." 

"  Then  she  is  to  remain  here  ?  " 

"  Yes,  as  long  as  she  wants  to.  And  do,  do  try 
to  see  how  good  she  is,  and  how  much  there  is  to 
love  in  her.  You  have  done  her  a  real  service," 
Anna  added,  smiling,  "  for  now  she  won't  have  it 
on  her  mind  any  more,  and  wdll  be  able  to  be 
really  happy." 

The  baroness  gathered  up  her  work  and  rose. 
Frau  von  Treumann  looked  at  her  nervously,  and 
rose  too. 

"  Then "  began  the  baroness,  pale  with  out- 
raged pride  and  propriety. 

"  Then  really "  began  Frau  von  Treumann 

more  faintly,  but  feeling  bound  in  this  matter  to 
follow  her  example.  After  all,  they  could  always 
allow  themselves  to  be  persuaded  to  change  their 
minds  again. 

Anna  got  up  too,  and  they  stood  facing  each 


374  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

other.  Something  awful  was  going  to  happen,  she 
felt,  but  what  ?  Were  they,  she  wondered,  both 
going  to  give  her  notice  ? 

The  baroness,  drawn  up  to  her  full  height, 
looked  at  her,  opened  her  lips  to  complete  her 
sentence,  and  shut  them  again.  She  was  exceed- 
ingly agitated,  and  held  her  little  thin,  claw-like 
hands  tightly  together  to  hide  how  they  were 
shaking.  All  she  had  left  in  the  world  was  the 
pride  of  being  an  Elmreich  and  a  baroness ;  and 
as,  with  the  relentless  years,  she  had  grown  poorer, 
plainer,  more  insignificant,  so  had  this  pride  in- 
creased and  strengthened,  until,  together  with  her 
passionate  propriety  and  horror  of  everything  in 
the  least  doubtful  in  the  way  of  reputations,  it  had 
come  to  be  the  very  mainspring  of   her   being. 

"  Then "  she  began  again,  with  a  great  effort; 

for  she  remembered  how  there  had  actually  been 
no  food  sometimes  when  she  was  hungry,  and  no 
fire  when  she  was  cold,  and  no  doctor  when  she 
was  sick,  and  how  severe  weather  had  seemed  to 
set  in  invariably  at  those  times  when  she  had  least 
money,  making  her  first  so  much  hungrier  than 
usual,  and  afterwards  so  much  more  sick,  as 
though  nature  itself  owed  her  a  grudge. 

"  Oh,  these  ultimatums  !  "  inwardly  deplored 
Frau  von  Treumann ;  the  baroness  was  very  ab- 
surd, she  thought,  to  take  the  thing  so  tragically. 

And  at  that  instant  the  door  was  thrown  open, 
and  without  waiting  to  be  announced,  Karlchen, 
resplendent  in  his  hussar  uniform,  and  beaming 
from  ear  to  ear,  hastened,  clanking,  into  the 
room. 

"  Karlchen !     Du  engelsgute  Junge  !  "  shrieked 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  375 

his  mother,  in  accents  of  supremest  relief  and 
joy. 

"  I  could  not  stay  away  longer,"  cried  Karlchen, 
returning  her  embrace  with  vigour,  "  I  felt  impelled 
to  come.  I  obtained  leave  after  many  prayers.  It 
is  for  a  few  hours  only.  I  return  to-night.  You 
forgive  me  .^ "  he  added,  turning  to  Anna  and 
bowing  over  her  hand. 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  smiling ;  Karlchen  had  come 
this  time,  she  felt,  exactly  at  the  right  moment. 

"  I  wrote    this  very  morning "  began    his 

mother  in  her  excitement;  but  she  stopped  in  time, 
and  covered  her  confusion  by  once  again  folding 
him  in  her  arms. 

Karlchen  was  so  much  delighted  by  this  unex- 
pectedly cordial  reception  that  he  lost  his  head  a 
little.  Anna  stood  smiling  at  him  as  she  had  not 
done  once  last  time.  Yes,  there  were  the  dimples 
—  oh,  sweet  vision!  —  they  were,  indeed,  glorious 
dimples.  He  seized  her  hand  a  second  time  and 
kissed  it.  The  pretty  hand  —  so  delicate  and 
slender.  And  the  dress  —  Karlchen  had  an  eye 
for  dress  —  how  dainty  it  was  !  "  Your  kind  wel- 
come quite  overcomes  me,"  he  said  enthusiasti- 
cally; and  he  looked  so  gay,  and  so  intensely 
satisfied  with  himself  and  the  whole  world,  that 
Anna  laughed  again.  Besides,  the  uniform  was 
really  surprisingly  becoming ;  his  civilian  clothes 
on  his  first  visit  had  been  melancholy  examples 
of  what  a  military  tailor  cannot  do. 

"  Ah,  baroness,"  said  Karlchen,  catching  sight 
of  the  small,  silent  figure.  He  brought  his  heels 
together,  bowed,  and  crossing  over  to  her  shook 
hands.  "  I  have  come  laden  with  greetings  for 
you,"  he  said. 


376  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Greetings  ?  "  repeated  the  baroness,  surprised. 
Then  an  odd  look  of  fear  came  into  her  eyes. 

He  had  not  meant  to  do  it  then ;  he  had  not 
been  certain  whether  he  would  do  it  this  time  at 
all ;  but  he  was  feeling  so  exhilarated,  so  buoyant, 
that  he  could  not  resist.  "  I  was  at  the  Winter- 
garten  last  night,"  he  said,  "  and  had  a  talk  with 
your  sister.  Baroness  Lolli.  She  dances  better 
than  ever.  She  sends  you  her  love,  and  says  she 
is  coming  down  to  see  you." 

The  baroness  made  a  queer  little  sound,  shut 
her  eyes,  spread  out  her  hands,  and  dropped  on  to 
the  carpet  as  though  she  had  been  shot. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

*'  Is  Herr  von  Treumann  gone  ?  " 

It  was  late  the  same  afternoon,  and  Princess 
Ludwig  had  come  into  the  bedroom  where  the 
Stralsund  doctor  was  still  vainly  endeavouring  to 
bring  the  baroness  back  to  life,  to  ask  Anna 
whether  she  would  see  Axel  Lohm,  who  was  wait- 
ing downstairs  and  hoped  to  be  allowed  to  speak 
to  her.  "  But  is  Herr  von  Treumann  gone  ?  "  in- 
quired Anna;  and  would  not  move  till  she  was 
sure  of  that. 

"  Yes,  and  his  mother  has  gone  with  him  to  the 
station." 

Anna  had  not  left  the  baroness's  side  since  the 
catastrophe.  She  could  not  see  the  unconscious 
face  on  the  pillow  for  tears.  Was  there  ever  such 
barbarous,  such  gratuitous  cruelty  as  young  Treu- 
mann's.f*  His  mother  had  been  in  once  or  twice 
on  tiptoe,  the  last  time  to  tell  Anna  that  he  was 
leaving,  and  would  she  not  come  down  so  that  he 
might  explain  how  sorry  he  was  for  having  unwit- 
tingly done  so  much  mischief  .f^  But  Anna  had 
merely  shaken  her  head  and  turned  again  to  the 
piteous  little  figure  on  the  bed.  Never  again,  she 
told  herself,  would  she  see  or  speak  to  Karlchen. 

The  movement  with  which  she  turned  away  was 
expressive ;  and  Frau  von  Treumann  went  out  and 
heaped  bitter  reproaches  on  Karlchen,  driving 
with  him  to  Stralsund  in  order  to  have  ample  time 

377 


378  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

to  heap  all  that  were  in  her  mind,  and  doing  it  the 
more  thoroughly  that  he  was  in  a  crushed  condi- 
tion and  altogether  incapable  of  defending  himself. 
For  what  had  he  really  cared  about  the  baroness's 
relationship  to  Lolli  ?  He  had  thought  it  a  huge 
joke,  and  had  looked  forward  with  enjoyment  to 
seeing  Anna  promptly  order  her  out  of  the  house. 
How  could  he,  thick  of  skin  and  slow  of  brain, 
have  foreseen  such  a  crisis  ?  He  was  very  much 
in  love  with  Anna,  and  shivered  when  he  thought 
of  the  look  she  had  given  him  as  she  followed  the 
people  who  were  carrying  the  baroness  out  of  the 
room.  Certainly  he  was  exceedingly  wretched, 
and  his  mother  could  not  reproach  him  more  bit- 
terly than  he  reproached  himself.  While  she  was 
vehemently  pointing  out  the  obvious,  he  meditated 
sadly  on  the  length  of  the  journey  he  had  taken 
for  worse  than  nothing.  All  the  morning  he  had 
been  roasted  in  trains,  and  he  was  about  to  be 
roasted  again  for  a  dreary  succession  of  hours. 
His  hot  uniform,  put  on  solely  for  Anna's  bedaz- 
zlement,  added  enormously  to  his  torments ;  and 
the  distance  between  Rislar  and  Stralsund  was 
great,  and  the  journey  proportionately  expensive 
—  much  too  expensive,  if  all  you  got  for  it  was 
one  intoxicating  glimpse  of  dimples,  followed  by  a 
flashing  look  of  wrath  that  made  you  feel  cold 
with  the  thermometer  at  ninety.  He  had  not  felt 
so  dejected  since  the  eighties,  he  reflected,  in 
which  dark  ages  he  had  been  forced  to  fight  a 
duel.  Karlchen  had  a  prejudice  against  duelling; 
he  thought  it  foolish.  But,  being  an  officer  —  he 
was  at  that  time  a  conspicuously  gay  lieutenant  — 
whatever   he   might   think   about   it,   if    anyone 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  379 

wanted  to  fight  him  fight  he  must,  or  drop  into 
the  awful  ranks  of  Unknowables.  He  had  made  a 
joke  of  a  personal  nature,  and  the  other  man  turned 
out  to  have  no  sense  of  humour,  and  took  it  seri- 
ously, and  expressed  a  desire  for  Karlchen's  blood. 
Driving  with  his  justly  incensed  mother  through 
the  dust  and  heat  to  the  station,  he  remembered 
the  dismal  night  he  had  passed  before  the  duel, 
and  thought  how  much  his  dejection  then  had  re- 
sembled in  its  profundity  his  dejection  now;  for 
he  had  been  afraid  he  was  going  to  be  hurt,  and 
whatever  people  may  say  about  courage  nobody 
really  likes  being  hurt.  Well,  perhaps  after  all, 
this  business  with  Anna  would  turn  out  all  right, 
just  as  that  business  had  turned  out  all  right;  for 
he  had  killed  his  man,  and,  instead  of  wounds, 
had  been  covered  with  glory.  Thus  Karlchen 
endeavoured  to  snatch  comfort  as  he  drove,  but 
yet  his  heart  was  very  heavy. 

"  I  hope,"  said  his  mother  bitingly  when  he  was 
in  the  train,  patiently  waiting  to  be  taken  beyond 
the  sound  of  her  voice,  "  I  do  hope  that  you  are 
ashamed  of  yourself.  It  is  a  bitter  feeling,  I  can 
tell  you,  the  feeling  that  one  is  the  mother  of  a 
fool." 

To  which  Karlchen,  still  dazed,  replied  by  un- 
hooking his  collar,  wiping  his  face,  and  appealing 
with  a  heart-rending  plaintiveness  to  a  passing 
beer-boy  to  give  him,  urn  Gottes  Willen,  beer. 

Axel  was  in  the  drawing-room,  where  the  re- 
mains of  Karlchen's  valedictory  coffee  and  cakes 
were  littered  on  a  table,  when  Anna  came  down. 
"  I  am  so  sorry  for  you,"  he  said.  "  Princess  Lud- 
wig  has  been  telling  me  what  has  happened." 


SSo  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  Don't  be  sorry  for  me.  Nothing  is  the  matter 
with  me.  Be  sorry  for  that  most  unfortunate  little 
soul  upstairs." 

Axel  kissed  Anna's  right  hand,  which  was,  she 
knew,  the  custom ;  and  immediately  proceeded  to 
kiss  her  other  hand,  which  was  not  the  custom  at 
all.  She  was  looking  woebegone,  with  red  eyelids 
and  white  cheeks ;  but  a  faint  colour  came  into 
her  face  at  this,  for  he  did  it  with  such  unmis- 
takable devotion  that  for  the  first  time  she  won- 
dered uneasily  whether  their  pleasant  friendship 
were  not  about  to  come  to  an  end. 

"  Don't  be  too  kind,"  she  said,  drawing  her 
hands  away  and  trying  to  smile.  "I  —  I  feel  so 
stupid  to-day,  and  want  to  cry  dreadfully." 

"  Well  then,  I  should  do  it,  and  get  it  over." 

"  I  did  do  it,  but  I  haven't  got  it  over." 

"  Well,  don't  think  of  it.    How  is  the  baroness  ?  " 

"  Just  the  same.  The  doctor  thinks  it  serious. 
And  she  has  no  constitution.  She  has  not  had 
enough  of  anything  for  years  —  not  enough  food, 
or  clothes,  or  —  or  anything." 

She  went  quickly  across  to  the  coffee  table  to 
hide  how  much  she  wanted  to  cry.  "  Have  some 
coffee,"  she  said  with  her  back  to  him,  moving  the 
cups  aimlessly  about. 

"  Don't  forget,"  said  Axel,  "  that  the  poor  lady's 
past  misery  is  over  now  and  done  with.  Think 
what  luck  has  come  in  her  way  at  last.  When 
she  gets  over  this,  here  she  is,  safe  with  you,  sur- 
rounded by  love  and  care  and  tenderness  —  bless- 
ings not  given  to  all  of  us." 

"  But  she  doesn't  like  love  and  care  and  tender- 
ness. At  least,  if  it  comes  from  me.  She  dislikes 
me. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  381 

Axel  could  not  exclaim  in  surprise,  for  he  was 
not  surprised.  The  baroness  had  appeared  to  him 
to  be  so  hopelessly  sour;  and  how,  he  thought, 
shall  the  hopelessly  sour  love  the  preternaturally 
sweet  ?  He  looked  therefore  at  Anna  arranging 
the  cups  with  restless,  nervous  fingers,  and  waited 
for  more. 

"  Why  do  you  say  that }  "  she  asked,  still  with 
her  back  to  him. 

"  Say  what  ?  " 

"  That  when  she  gets  over  this  she  will  have  all 
those  nice  things  surrounding  her.  You  told  me 
when  first  she  came,  that  if  she  really  were  the 
poor  dancing  woman's  sister  I  ought  on  no  account 
to  keep  her  here.     Don't  you  remember  .^^  " 

"  Quite  well.  But  am  I  not  right  in  supposing 
that  you  wz/l  keep  her  ?  You  see,  I  know  you 
better  now  than  I  did  then." 

"  If  she  liked  being  here  —  if  it  made  her  happy 
—  I  would  keep  her  in  defiance  of  the  whole 
world." 

"But  as  it  is ?" 

She  came  to  him  with  a  cup  of  cold  coffee  in 
her  hands.     He  took  it,  and  stirred  it  mechanically. 

"  As  it  is,"  she  said,  "  she  is  very  ill,  and  has  to 
get  well  again  before  we  begin  to  decide  things. 
Perhaps,"  she  added,  looking  up  at  him  wistfully, 
"  this  illness  will  change  her  ?  " 

He  shook  his  head.  "  I  am  afraid  it  won't,"  he 
said.  "For  a  little  while,  perhaps  —  for  a  few 
weeks  at  first  while  she  still  remembers  your  nurs- 
ing, and  then  —  why,  the  old  self  over  again." 

He  put  the  untasted  coffee  down  on  the  nearest 
table.     "  There  is  no  getting  away,"  he  said,  com- 


382  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

ing  back  to  her,  "from  one's  old  self.     That  is  why 
this  work  you  have  undertaken  is  so  hopeless." 

"  Hopeless  ?  "  she  exclaimed  in  a  startled  voice. 
He  was  saying  aloud  what  she  had  more  than 
once  almost — never  quite  —  whispered  in  her 
heart  of  hearts. 

"  You  ought  to  have  begun  with  the  baroness 
thirty  years  ago,  to  have  had  a  chance  of  success." 

"  Why,  she  was  five  years  old  then,  and  I  am 
sure  quite  cheerful.     And   I  wasn't  there  at  all." 

"  Five  ought  really  to  be  the  average  age  of  the 
Chosen.  What  is  the  use  of  picking  out  unhappy 
persons  well  on  in  life,  and  thinking  you  are  going 
to  make  them  happy  ?  How  can  you  ma^e  them 
be  happy  ?  If  it  had  been  possible  to  their  natures 
they  would  have  been  so  long  ago,  however  poor 
they  were.  And  they  would  not  have  been  so 
poor  or  so  unhappy  if  they  had  been  willing  to 
work.  Work  is  such  an  admirable  tonic.  The 
princess  works,  and  finds  life  very  tolerable.  You 
will  never  succeed  with  people  like  Frau  von 
Treumann  and  the  baroness.  They  belong  to  a 
class  of  persons  that  will  grumble  even  in  heaven. 
You  could  easily  make  those  who  are  happy 
already  still  happier,  for  it  is  in  them  —  the  grati- 
tude and  appreciation  for  life  and  its  blessings; 
but  those  of  course  are  not  the  people  you  want 
to  get  at.  You  think  I  am  preaching  ?  "  he  asked 
abruptly. 

"  But  are  you  not  ?  " 

"  It  is  because  I  cannot  stand  by  and  watch  you 
bruising  yourself." 

"  Oh,"  said  Anna,  "  you  are  a  man,  and  can  fight 
your  way  well  enough  through  life.    You  are  quite 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  383 

comfortable  and  prosperous.  How  can  you  sym- 
pathise with  women  like  Else  ?  Because  she  is 
not  young  you  haven't  a  feeling  for  her  — only 
indifference.  You  talk  of  my  bruising  myself  — 
you  don't  mind  her  bruises.  And  if  I  were  forty, 
how  sure  I  am  that  you  wouldn't  mind  mine." 

"  Yes,  I  would,"  said  Axel,  with  such  conviction 
that  she  added  quickly,  "  Well  —  I  don't  want  to 
talk  about  bruises." 

"  I  hope  the  baroness  will  soon  get  over  the 
cruel  ones  that  singularly  brutal  young  man  has 
inflicted.  You  agree  with  me  that  he  is  a  singu- 
larly brutal  young  man  1  " 

"  Absolutely." 

"  And  I  hope  that  when  she  is  well  again  you 
will  make  her  as  happy  as  she  is  capable  of  being." 

"  If  I  knew  how !  " 

"  Why,  by  letting  her  go  away,  and  giving  her 
enough  to  live  on  decently  by  herself.  It  would 
be  quite  the  best  course  to  take,  both  for  you  and 
for  her." 

Anna  looked  down.  "  I  have  been  thinking  the 
same  thing,"  she  said  in  a  low  voice ;  she  felt  as 
though  she  were  hauling  down  her  flag. 

"  Perhaps  you  will  let  me  help." 

"  Help } " 

"  Let  me  contribute.  Why  may  I  not  be 
charitable  too  ?  If  we  join  together  it  will  be  to 
her  advantage.  She  need  not  know.  And  you 
are  not  a  millionaire." 

"  Nor  are  you,"  said  Anna,  smiling  up  at  him. 

"  We  unfortunates  who  live  by  our  potatoes 
are  never  millionaires.  But  still  we  can  be 
charitable." 


384  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  But  why  should  you  help  the  baroness  ?  I 
found  her  out,  and  brought  her  here,  and  I  am  the 
only  person  responsible  for  her." 

"  It  will  be  much  more  costly  than  just  having 
her  here." 

"  I  don't  mind,  if  only  she  is  happy.  And  I 
will  not  have  you  pay  the  cost  of  my  experiments 
in  philanthropy." 

"  Is  Frau  von  Treumann  happy } "  he  asked 
abruptly. 

"  No,"  said  Anna,  with  a  faint  smile. 

"  Is  Fraulein  Kuhrauber  happy  '^.  " 

"  No." 

"  Tell  me  one  thing  more,"  he  said ;  "  are  you 
happy  1 " 

Anna  blushed.  "  That  is  a  queer  question," 
she  said.     "  Why  should  I  not  be  happy }  " 

"  But  are  you  ? " 

She  looked  at  him,  hesitating.  Then  she  said, 
in  a  very  small  voice,  "  No." 

Axel  took  two  or  three  turns  up  and  down  the 
room.  "  I  knew  it,"  he  said  ;  and  added  something 
in  German  under  his  breath  about  Weiber,  "After 
this,  you  will  not,  I  suppose,  receive  young  Treu- 
mann again  ?  "  he  asked,  coming  to  a  halt  in  front 
of  her. 

"  Never  again." 

"  You  have  a  difficult  time  before  you,  then, 
with  his  mother." 

Anna  blushed.  "  I  am  afraid  I  have,"  she  ad- 
mitted. 

"  You  have  a  very  difficult  few  weeks  before 
you,"  he  said.  "  The  baroness  probably  danger- 
ously ill,  and    Frau  von    Treumann  very  angry 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  385 

with  you.  I  know  Princess  Ludwig  does  all  she 
can,  but  still  you  are  alone  —  against  odds." 

The  odds,  too,  were  greater  than  she  knew. 
All  day  he  had  been  officially  engaged  in  making 
inquiries  into  the  origin  of  the  fire  the  night 
before,  and  every  circumstance  pointed  to  Klutz 
as  the  culprit.  He  had  sent  for  Klutz,  and  Klutz, 
they  said,  had  gone  home.  Then  he  sent  a  tele- 
gram after  him,  and  his  father  replied  that  he  was 
neither  expecting  his  son  nor  was  he  ill.  Klutz, 
then,  had  disappeared  in  order  to  avoid  the  con- 
sequences of  what  he  had  done ;  but  it  was  only  a 
question  of  days  before  the  police  brought  him 
back  again,  and  then  he  would  tell  the  whole 
absurd  story,  and  Pomerania  would  chuckle  at 
Anna's  expense.  The  thought  of  this  chuckling 
made  Axel  cold  with  rage. 

He  stood  looking  out  of  the  window  at  the 
parched  garden,  the  drooping  lilac-bushes,  the 
hazy  island  across  the  water.  The  wind  had 
dropped,  and  a  gray  film  had  drawn  across  the 
sky.  At  the  bottom  of  the  garden,  under  a  chest- 
nut-tree. Miss  Leech  was  sewing,  while  Letty  read 
aloud  to  her.  The  monotonous  drone  of  Letty 's 
reading,  interrupted  by  her  loud  complaints  each 
time  a  mosquito  stung  her,  reached  Axel's  ears  as 
he  stood  there  in  silence.  A  grim  struggle  was 
going  on  within  him.  He  loved  Anna  with  a 
passion  that  would  no  longer  be  hidden ;  and  he 
knew  that  he  must  somehow  hide  it.  He  was  so 
certain  that  she  did  not  care  about  him.  He  was 
so  certain  that  she  would  never  dream  of  marry- 
ing him.  And  yet  if  ever  a  woman  needed  the 
protection  of  an  all-enfolding  love  it  was  Anna  at 

2C 


386  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

that  moment.  "  That  child  down  there  has  made 
a  pretty  fair  amount  of  mischief  for  a  person  of 
her  age,"  he  burst  out  with  a  vehemence  that  star- 
tled Anna. 

"  What  child  ?  "  she  said,  coming  up  behind  him 
and  looking  over  his  shoulder. 

He  turned  round  quickly.  The  feeling  that 
she  was  so  close  to  him  tore  away  the  last  shred 
of  his  self-control.  "  You  know  that  I  love  you," 
he  said,  his  voice  shaking  with  passion. 

Her  face  in  an  instant  was  colourless.  She 
stood  quite  still,  almost  touching  him,  as  though 
she  did  not  dare  move.  Her  eyes  w^ere  fixed  on 
his  with  a  frightened,  fascinated  look. 

"  You  know  it.  You  have  known  it  a  long 
time.     Now  what  are  you  going  to  say  to  me  ?  " 

She  looked  at  him  without  speaking  or  moving. 

"  Anna,  what  are  you  going  to  say  to  me  ?  "  he 
cried ;  and  he  caught  up  her  hands  and  kissed 
them  one  after  the  other,  hardly  knowing  what  he 
did,  beside  himself  with  love  of  her. 

She  watched  him  helplessly.  She  felt  faint  and 
sick.  She  had  had  a  miserable  day,  and  was  com- 
pletely overwhelmed  by  this  last  misfortune.  Her 
good  friend  Axel  was  gone,  gone  for  ever.  The 
pleasant  friendship  was  done.  In  place  of  the 
friend  she  so  much  needed,  of  the  friendship  she 
had  found  so  comforting,  there  w^as  —  this. 

"  Won't  you  —  won't  you  let  my  hands  go  ? " 
she  said  faintly.  She  did  not  know  him  again. 
Was  it  possible  that  this  agony  of  love  was  for 
her  ?  She  knew  herself  so  well,  she  knew  so  well 
what  It  was  for  which  he  was  evidently  going  to 
break  his  heart.     How  wonderful,  how  pitiful  be- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  387 

yond  expression,  that  a  good  man  like  Axel  should 
suffer  anything  because  of  her.  And  even  in  the 
midst  of  her  fright  and  misery  the  thought  would 
not  be  put  from  her  that  if  she  had  happened  to 
look  like  the  baroness  or  Fraulein  Kuhrauber, 
while  inwardly  remaining  exactly  as  she  was,  he 
would  not  have  broken  his  heart  for  her.     "  Oh, 

let  me  go "  she   whispered ;  and  turned  her 

head  aside,  and  shut  her  eyes,  unable  to  look  any 
longer  at  the  love  and  despair  in  his. 

"  But  what  are  you  going  to  say  to  me }  " 

"  Oh,  you  know^  —  you  know " 

"  But  you  are  so  sorry  always  for  people  who 
suffer " 

"  Oh,  stop  —  oh,  stop !  " 

"  No,  I  won't  stop ;  here  have  I  been  condemned 
to  look  on  at  you  lavishing  love  on  people  who 
don't  want  it,  don't  like  it,  are  wearied  by  it  — 
who  don't  know  how  precious  it  is,  how  priceless 
it  is,  and  how  I  am  hungering  and  thirsting  —  oh, 

starving,  starving,  for  one  drop  of  it "     His 

voice  shook,  and  he  fell  once  more  to  covering 
her  hands  with  kisses  that  seemed  to  scorch  her 
soul. 

This  was  very  dreadful.  Her  soul  had  never 
been  scorched  before.  Something  must  be  done 
to  stop  him.  She  could  not  stand  there  with  her 
eyes  shut  and  her  hands  being  kissed  for  ever. 
"  Please  let  me  go,"  she  entreated  faintly  ;  and  in 
her  helplessness  began  to  cry. 

He  instantly  released  her,  and  she  stood  before 
him  crying.  What  a  horrible  thing  it  was  to  lose 
her  friend,  to  be  forced  to  hurt  him.  "  I  never 
dreamt  that  you  —  that  you "  she  wept. 


388  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  What,  that  I  loved  you  ? "  he  asked  incredu- 
lously ;  but  more  gently,  subdued  by  her  deep  dis- 
tress. His  face  grew  very  hopeless.  She  was 
crying  because  she  was  sorry  for  him. 

"  I  don't  know  —  I  think  I  did  dream  that  — 
lately  —  once  or  twice  —  but  I  never  dreamt  that 
it  was  so  bad  —  that  you  were  such  a  —  such  a  — 
such  a  volcano.  Oh,  Axel,  why  are  you  a  volcano  ? " 
she  cried,  looking  up  at  him,  the  tears  rolling  down 
her  cheeks.  "  Why  have  you  spoilt  everything  ? 
It  was  so  nice  before.  We  were  such  friends. 
And  now  —  how  can  I  be  friends  with  a  volcano?  " 

"  Anna,  if  you  make  fun  of  me " 

"Oh  no,  no  —  as  though  I  would  —  as  though 
I  could  do  anything  so  unutterable.  But  don't  let 
us  be  tragic.  Oh,  don't  let  us  be  tragic.  You 
know  my  plans  —  you  know  my  plans  inside  out, 
from  beginning  to  end  —  how  can  I,  how  can  I 
marry  anybody  ? " 

"  Good  God,  those  women  —  those  women  who 
are  not  happy,  who  have  spoilt  your  happiness, 
they  are  to  spoil  mine  now  —  ours,  Anna  ?  "  He 
seized  her  arm  as  though  he  would  wake  her  at 
all  costs  from  a  fatal  sleep.  "  Do  you  mean  to  say 
that  if  it  were  not  for  those  women  you  would  be 
my  wife  ? " 

"  Oh,  if  only  you  wouldn't  be  tragic " 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  is  the  reason  ? " 

"Oh,  isn't  it  sufficient " 

"  No.  If  you  cared  for  me  it  would  be  no  rea- 
son at  all." 

She  cried  bitterly.  "  But  I  don't,"  she  sobbed. 
"  Not  like  that  —  not  in  that  way.  It  is  atrocious 
of  me  not  to  —  I  know  how  good  you  are,  how 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  389 

kind,  how  —  how  everything.  And  still  I  don't. 
I  don't  know  why  I  don't,  but  I  don't.  Oh, 
Axel,  I  am  so  sorry  —  don't  look  so  wretched  — 
I  can't  bear  it." 

"  But  what  can  it  matter  to  you  how  I  look  if 
you  don't  care  about  me  ?  " 

"  Oh,  oh,"  sobbed  Anna,  wringing  her  hands. 

He  caught  hold  of  her  wTist.  "  See  here,  Anna. 
Look  at  me." 

But  she  would  not  look  at  him. 

"  Look  at  me.  I  don't  believe  you  know  your 
own  mind.  I  want  to  see  into  your  eyes.  They 
were  always  honest  —  look  at  me." 

But  she  would  not  look  at  him. 

"  Surely  you  will  do  that  —  only  that  —  for  me." 

"There  isn't  anything  to  see,"  she  wept,  "there 
really  isn't.  It  is  dreadful  of  me,  but  I  can't  help 
it. 

"  Well,  but  look  at  me." 

"  Oh,  Axel,  what  is  the  use  of  looking  at  you  ?  " 
she  cried  in  despair ;  and  pulled  her  handkerchief 
away  and  did  it. 

He  searched  her  face  for  a  moment  in  silence, 
as  though  he  thought  that  if  only  he  could  read 
her  soul  he  might  understand  it  better  than  she 
did  herself.  Those  dear  eyes  —  they  were  full  of 
pity,  full  of  distress ;  but  search  as  he  might  he 
could  find  nothing  else. 

He  turned  away  without  a  word. 

"  Don't,  don't  be  tragic,"  she  begged,  anxiously 
following  him  a  few  steps.  "  If  only  you  are  not 
tragic  we  shall  still  be  able  to  be  friends " 

But  he  did  not  look  round. 

A  servant  with  a  tray  was  outside  coming  in  to 


390  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

take  the  coffee  away.  "  Oh,"  exclaimed  Anna, 
seeing  that  it  was  impossible  to  hide  her  tear- 
stained  face  from  the  girl's  calm  scrutiny,  "  oh, 
Johanna,  the  poor  baroness  —  she  is  so  ill  —  it  is 

so  dreadful "     And  she  dropped  into  a  chair 

and  hid  herself  in  the  cushions,  weeping  hysteri- 
cally with  an  abandonment  of  woe  that  betokened 
a  quite  extraordinary  affection  for  the  baroness. 

"  Gott,  die  arme  Baronesse','  sympathised  Jo- 
hanna perfunctorily.  To  herself  she  remarked, 
"  This  very  moment  has  the  Miss  refused  to 
marry  gnadiger  Herr^ 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

What  Anna  most  longed  for  in  the  days  that 
followed  was  a  mother.  "  If  I  had  a  mother,"  she 
thought,  not  once,  but  again  and  again,  and  her 
eyes  had  a  wistful,  starved  look  when  she  thought 
it,  "  if  I  only  had  a  mother,  a  sweet  mother  all  to 
myself,  of  my  very  own,  I'd  put  my  head  on  her 
dear  shoulder  and  cry  myself  happy  again.  First 
I'd  tell  her  everything,  and  she  wouldn't  mind 
however  silly  it  was,  and  she  wouldn't  be  tired 
however  long  it  was,  and  she'd  say  '  Little  darling 
child,  you  are  only  a  baby  after  all,'  and  would 
scold  me  a  little,  and  kiss  me  a  great  deal,  and 
then  I'd  listen  so  comfortably,  all  the  time  with 
my  face  against  her  nice  soft  dress,  and  I  would 
feel  so  safe  and  sure  and  wrapped  round  while 
she  told  me  what  to  do  next.  It  is  lonely  and 
cold  and  difficult  without  a  mother." 

The  house  was  in  confusion.  The  baroness  had 
come  out  of  her  unconsciousness  to  delirium,  and 
the  doctors,  knowing  that  she  was  not  related  to 
anyone  there,  talked  openly  of  death.  There 
were  two  doctors,  now,  and  two  nurses  ;  and  Anna 
insisted  on  nursing  too,  wearing  herself  out  with 
all  the  more  passion  because  she  felt  that  it  was 
of  so  little  importance  really  to  anyone  whether 
the  baroness  lived  or  died. 

They  were  all  strangers,  the  people  watching 
this  frail  fighter  for  life,  and  they  watched  with 

391 


392  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  indifference  natural  to  strangers.  Here  was  a 
middle-aged  person  who  would  probably  die ;  if 
she  died  no  one  lost  anything,  and  if  she  lived 
it  did  not  matter  either.  The  doctors  and  nurses, 
accustomed  to  these  things,  could  not  be  expected 
to  be  interested  in  so  profoundly  uninterest- 
ing a  case;  Frau  von  Treumann  observed  once 
at  least  every  day  that  it  was  schrecklich,  and  went 
on  with  her  embroidery;  Fraulein  Kuhrauber 
cried  a  little  when,  on  her  way  to  her  bedroom, 
she  heard  the  baroness  raving,  but  she  cried 
easily,  and  the  raving  frightened  her ;  the  princess 
felt  that  death  in  this  case  would  be  a  blessing ; 
and  Letty  and  Miss  Leech  avoided  the  house, 
and  spent  the  burning  days  rambling  in  woods 
that  teemed  with  prodigal,  joyous  life. 

As  for  Anna,  to  see  her  in  the  sick-room  was 
to  suppose  her  the  nearest  and  tenderest  relative 
of  the  baroness ;  and  yet  the  passion  that  pos- 
sessed her  was  not  love,  but  only  an  endless,  un- 
fathomable pity.  "  If  she  gets  well,  she  shall  never 
be  unhappy  again,"  vowed  Anna  in  those  days 
when  she  thought  she  could  hear  Death's  foot- 
steps on  the  stairs.  "  Here  or  somewhere  else  — 
anywhere  she  likes  —  she  shall  live  and  be  happy. 
She  will  see  that  her  poor  sister  has  made  no 
difference,  except  that  there  will  be  no  shadow 
between  us  now." 

But  what  is  the  use  of  vowing?  When  June 
was  in  its  second  week  the  baroness  slowly  and 
hesitatingly  turned  the  corner  of  her  illness ;  and 
immediately  the  corner  was  turned  and  the  ex- 
haustion of  turning  it  got  over,  she  became  frac- 
tious.    "  You   will    have   a   difficult   time,"  Axel 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  393 

had  said  on  the  day  he  spoilt  their  friendship; 
and  it  was  true.  The  difficult  time  began  after 
that  corner  was  turned,  and  the  farther  the  bar- 
oness drew  away  from  it,  the  nearer  she  got  to 
complete  convalescence,  the  more  difficult  did  life 
for  Anna  become.  For  it  resumed  the  old  course, 
and  they  all  resumed  their  old  selves,  the  same  old 
selves,  even  to  the  shadow  of  an  unmentioned 
Lolli  between  them,  that  Axel  had  said  they  would 
by  no  means  get  away  from  ;  but  with  this  differ- 
ence, that  the  pecuHarities  of  both  Frau  von 
Treumann  and  the  baroness  were  more  pro- 
nounced than  before,  and  that  not  one  of  the  trio 
would  speak  to  either  of  the  other  two. 

Frau  von  Treumann  was  still  firmly  fixed  in  the 
house,  without  the  least  intention  apparently  of 
leaving  it,  and  she  spent  her  time  lying  in  wait  for 
Anna,  watching  for  an  opportunity  of  beginning 
again  about  Karlchen.  Anna  had  avoided  the 
inevitable  day  when  she  would  be  caught,  but  it 
came  at  last,  and  she  was  caught  in  the  garden, 
whither  she  had  retired  to  consider  how  best  to 
approach  the  baroness,  hitherto  quite  unapproach- 
able, on  the  burning  question  of  Lolli. 

Frau  von  Treumann  appeared  suddenly,  coming 
softly  across  the  grass,  so  that  there  was  no  time  to 
run  away.  "  Anna,"  she  called  out  reproachfully, 
seeing  Anna  make  a  movement  as  though  she 
w^anted  to  run,  w^hich  was  exactly  what  she  did 
want  to  do,  "  Anna,  have  I  the  plague.?  " 

"  I  hope  not,"  said  Anna. 

"  You  treat  me  as  if  I  had  it." 

Anna  said  nothing.  "  Why  does  she  stay  here  ? 
How  can  she  stay  here,  after  what  has  happened  ?  " 


394  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

she  had  wondered  often.  Perhaps  she  had  come 
now  to  announce  her  departure.  She  prepared 
herself  therefore  to  listen  with  a  willing  ear. 

She  was  sitting  in  the  shade  of  a  copper  beech 
facing  the  oily  sea  and  the  coast  of  Riigen  quivering 
opposite  in  the  heat-haze.  She  was  not  doing  any- 
thing ;  she  never  did  seem  to  do  anything,  as  these 
ladies  of  the  busy  fingers  often  noticed. 

"  Blue  and  white,"  said  Anna,  looking  up  at  the 
gulls  and  the  sky  to  give  Frau  von  Treumann  time, 
"  the  Pomeranian  colours.  I  see  now  where  they 
come  from." 

But  Frau  von  Treumann  had  not  come  out  to 
talk  about  the  Pomeranian  colours.  "  My  Karl- 
chen  has  been  ill,"  she  said,  her  eyes  on  Anna's 
face. 

Anna  watched  the  gulls  overhead  in  the  deep 
blue.     "  So  has  Else,"  she  remarked. 

"  Dear  me,"  thought  Frau  von  Treumann,  "  what 
rancour." 

She  laid  her  hand  on  Anna's  knee,  and  it  was 
taken  no  notice  of.  "  You  cannot  forgive  him  ^  " 
she  said  gently.  "  You  cannot  pardon  a  momen- 
tary indiscretion  ? " 

"  I  have  nothing  to  forgive,"  said  Anna,  watch- 
ing the  gulls ;  one  dropped  down  suddenly,  and 
rose  again  with  a  fish  in  its  beak,  the  sun  for  an 
instant  catching  the  silver  of  the  scales.  "  It  is  no 
affair  of  mine.     It  is  for  Else  to  forgive  him." 

Frau  von  Treumann  began  to  weep ;  this  way 
of  looking  at  it  was  so  hopelessly  unreasonable. 
She  pulled  out  her  handkerchief.  "  What  a  heap 
she  must  use,"  thought  Anna;  never  had  she  met 
people  who  cried  so  much  and  so  easily  as  the 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  395 

Chosen  ;  she  was  quite  used  now  to  red  eyes ;  one 
or  other  of  her  sisters  had  them  almost  daily,  for 
the  farther  their  old  bodily  discomforts  and  real 
anxieties  lay  behind  them  the  more  tender  and 
easily  lacerated  did  their  feelings  become. 

"  He  could  not  bear  to  see  you  being  imposed 
upon,"  said  Frau  von  Treumann.  "  As  soon  as 
he  knew  about  this  terrible  sister  he  felt  he  must 
hasten  down  to  save  you.  '  Mother '  "  he  said  to 
me  when  first  he  suspected  it,  " '  if  it  is  true,  she 
must  not  be  contaminated.'  " 

"  Who  mustn't  ?  " 

"  Oh,  Anna,  you  know  he  thinks  only  of  you  !  " 

"Well,  you  see,"  said  Anna,  " I  don't  mind  being 
contaminated." 

"  Oh,  dear  child,  a  young  pretty  girl  ought  to 
mind  very  much." 

"  Well,  I  don't.  But  what  about  yourself  ?  Are 
you  not  afraid  of  —  of  contamination  ?  "  She  was 
frightened  by  her  own  daring  when  she  had  said 
it,  and  would  not  have  looked  at  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann for  worlds. 

"  No,  dear  child,"  replied  that  lady  in  tones  of 
tearful  sweetness,  "  I  am  too  old  to  suffer  in  any 
way  from  associating  with  queer  people." 

"  But  I  thought  a  Treumann "  murmured 

Anna,  more  and  more  frightened  at  herself,  but 
impelled  to  go  on. 

"  Dear  Anna,  a  Treumann  has  never  yet  flinched 
before  duty." 

Anna  was  silenced.  After  that  she  could  only 
continue  to  watch  the  gulls. 

"  You  are  going  to  keep  the  baroness  ?  " 

"  If  she  cares  to  stay,  yes." 


396  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  I  thought  you  would.  It  is  for  you  to  decide 
who  you  will  have  in  your  house.  But  what  would 
you  do  if  this  —  this  Lolli  came  down  to  see  her 
sister  ? " 

"  I  really  cannot  tell." 

"  Well,  be  sure  of  one  thing,"  burst  out  Frau 
von  Treumann  enthusiastically,  "  I  will  not  for- 
sake you,  dear  Anna.  Your  position  now  is 
exceedingly  delicate,  and  I  will  not  forsake  you." 

So  she  was  not  going.  Anna  got  up  with  a 
faint  sigh.  "  It  is  frightfully  hot  here,"  she  said ; 
"  I  think  I  will  go  to  Else." 

"  Ah  —  and  I  wanted  to  tell  you  about  my  poor 
Karlchen  —  and  you  avoid  me  —  you  do  not  want 
to  hear.  If  I  am  in  the  house,  the  house  is  too 
hot.  If  I  come  into  the  garden,  the  garden  is 
too  hot.     You  no  longer  like  being  with  me." 

Anna  did  not  contradict  her.  She  was  won- 
dering painfully  what  she  ought  to  do.  Ought 
she  meekly  to  allow  Frau  von  Treumann  to  stay 
on  at  Kleinwalde,  to  the  exclusion,  perhaps,  of 
someone  really  deserving  ?  Or  ought  she  to 
brace  herself  to  the  terrible  task  of  asking  her  to 
go?  She  thought,  "  I  will  ask  Axel  "  —  and  then 
remembered  that  there  was  no  Axel  to  ask.  He 
never  came  near  her.  He  had  dropped  out  of 
her  life  as  completely  as  though  he  had  left 
Lohm.  Since  that  unhappy  day,  she  had  neither 
seen  him  nor  heard  of  him.  Many  times  did  she 
say  to  herself,  "  I  will  ask  Axel,"  and  always  the 
remembrance  that  she  could  not  came  with  a 
shock  of  loneliness ;  and  then  she  would  drop 
into  the  train  of  thought  that  ended  with  "  if  I 
had  a  mother,"  and  her  eyes  growing  wistful. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  397 

"  Perhaps  it  is  the  hot  weather,"  she  said  sud- 
denly, an  evening  or  two  later,  after  a  long  silence, 
to  the  princess.  They  had  been  speaking  of  ser- 
vants before  that. 

"  You  think  it  is  the  hot  weather  that  makes 
Johanna  break  the  cups  ?  " 

"  That  makes  me  think  so  much  of  mothers." 

The  princess  turned  her  head  quickly,  and  ex- 
amined Anna's  face.  It  was  Sunday  evening,  and 
the  others  were  at  church.  The  baroness,  whose 
recovery  was  slow,  was  up  in  her  room. 

"  What  mothers  ?  "  naturally  inquired  the  prin- 
cess. 

"  I  think  this  everlasting  heat  is  dreadful,"  said 
Anna  plaintively.  "  I  have  no  backbone  left.  I 
am  all  limp,  and  soft,  and  silly.  In  cold  weather 
I  believe  I  wouldn't  want  a  mother  half  so 
badly." 

"So  you  want  a  mother.'^"  said  the  princess, 
taking  Anna's  hand  in  hers  and  patting  it  kindly. 
She  thought  she  knew  why.  Everyone  in  the 
house  saw  that  something  must  have  been  said  to 
Axel  Lohm  to  make  him  keep  away  so  long. 
Perhaps  Anna  was  repenting,  and  wanted  a 
mother's  help  to  set  things  right  again. 

"  I  always  thought  it  would  be  so  glorious  to  be 
independent,"  said  Anna,  "  and  now  somehow  it 
isn't.  It  is  tiring.  I  want  someone  to  tell  me 
what  I  ought  to  do,  and  to  see  that  I  do  it.  Be- 
sides petting  me.  I  long  and  long  sometimes  to 
be  petted." 

The  princess  looked  wise.  "  My  dear,"  she  said, 
shaking  her  head,  "it  is  not  a  mother  that  you 
want.     Do  you  know  the  couplet :  — 


398  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Man  bedarf  der  Leitung 
Und  der  mdnnlichen  Begleitungt 

A  truly  excellent  couplet." 

Anna  smiled.  "  That  is  the  German  idea  of 
female  bliss  —  always  to  be  led  round  by  the  nose 
by  some  husband." 

"  Not  some  husband,  my  dear  —  one's  own  hus- 
band. You  may  call  it  leading  by  the  nose  if  you 
like.  I  can  only  say  that  I  enjoyed  being  led  by 
mine,  and  have  missed  it  grievously  ever  since." 

"  But  you  had  found  the  right  man." 

"  It  is  not  very  difficult  to  find  the  right  man." 

"  Yes  it  is  —  very  difficult  indeed." 

"  I  think  not,"  said  the  princess.  "  He  is  never 
far  off.  Sometimes,  even,  he  is  next  door."  And 
she  gazed  over  Anna's  head  at  the  ceiling  with 
elaborate  unconsciousness. 

"  And  besides,"  said  Anna,  "  why  does  a  woman 
everlastingly  want  to  be  led  and  propped  ?  Why 
can't  she  go  about  the  business  of  life  on  her  own 
feet?  Why  must  she  always  lean  on  some- 
one.f' 

"  You  said  just  now  it  is  because  it  is  hot." 

"  The  fact  is,"  said  Anna,  "  that  I  am  not  clever 
enough  to  see  my  way  through  puzzles.  And  that 
depresses  me." 

"  I  well  know  that  you  must  be  puzzled." 

"  Yes,  it  is  puzzling,  isn't  it  ?  I  can  talk  to  you 
about  it,  for  of  course  you  see  it  all.  It  seems  so 
absurd  that  the  only  result  of  my  trying  to  make 
people  happy  is  to  make  everyone,  including  my- 
self, wretched.  That  is  waste,  isn't  it.  Waste,  I 
mean,  of  happiness.  For  I,  at  least,  was  happy 
before." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  399 

"  And,  my  dear,  you  will  be  happy  again." 

Anna  knit  her  brows  in  painful  thought.  "  If 
by  being  wretched  I  had  managed  to  make  the 
others  happy  it  wouldn't  have  been  so  bad.  At 
least  it  w^ouldn't  have  been  so  completely  silly. 
The  only  thing  I  can  think  of  is  that  I  must  have 
hit  upon  the  wrong  people." 

"  /  Gott  bewahre ! "  cried  the  princess  with 
energy.  "  They  are  all  alike.  Send  these  aw^ay, 
you  get  them  back  in  a  different  shape.  Faces 
and  names  would  be  different,  never  the  women. 
They  w^ould  all  be  Treumanns  and  Elmreichs, 
and  not  a  single  one  worth  anything  in  the  w^hole 
heap." 

"  Well,  I  shall  not  desert  them  —  Else  and 
Emilie,  I  mean.  They  need  help,  both  of  them. 
And  after  all,  it  is  simple  selfishness  for  ever 
wanting  to  be  happy  oneself.  I  have  begun  to 
see  that  the  chief  thing  in  life  is  not  to  be  as 
happy  as  one  can,  but  to  be  very  brave." 

The  princess  sighed.     "  Poor  Axel,"  she  said. 

Anna  started,  and  blushed  violently.  "  Pray 
what  has  my  being  brave  to  do  with  Herr  von 
Lohm  }  "  she  inquired  severely. 

"  Why,  you  are  going  to  be  brave  at  his  ex- 
pense, poor  man.  You  must  not  expect  anything 
from  me,  my  dear,  but  common  sense.  You  give 
up  all  hope  of  being  happy  because  you  think  it 
your  duty  to  go  on  sacrificing  him  and  yourself 
to  a  set  of  thankless,  w^orthless  w^omen,  and  you 
call  it  being  brave.  I  call  it  being  unnatural  and 
silly." 

"It  has  never  been  a  question  of  Herr  von 
Lohm,"    said    Anna    coldly,    indeed     freezingly. 


400  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  What  claims  has  he  on  me  ?  My  plans  were  all 
made  before  I  knew  that  he  existed." 

"  Oh,  my  dear,  your  plans  are  very  irritating 
things.  The  only  plan  a  sensible  young  woman 
ought  to  make  is  to  get  as  good  a  husband  as 
possible  as  quickly  as  she  can." 

"Why,"  said  Anna,  rising  in  her  indignation, 
and  preparing  to  leave  a  princess  suddenly  be- 
come objectionable,  "  why,  you  are  as  bad  as 
Susie  ! " 

"  Susie  ?  "  said  the  princess,  who  had  not  heard 
of  her  by  that  name.  "  Was  Susie  also  one  who 
told  you  the  truth  ?  " 

But  Anna  walked  out  of  the  room  without 
answering,  in  a  very  dignified  manner ;  went  into 
the  loneliest  part  of  the  garden ;  sat  down  behind 
some  bushes  ;  and  cried. 

She  looked  back  on  those  childish  tears  after- 
wards, and  on  all  that  had  gone  before,  as  the  last 
part  of  a  long  sleep;  a  sleep  disturbed  by  troub- 
ling and  foolish  dreams,  but  still  only  a  sleep  and 
only  dreams.  She  woke  up  the  very  next  day, 
and  remained  wide  awake  after  that  for  the  rest 
of  her  life. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

Anna  drove  into  Stralsund  the  next  morning  to 
her  banker,  accompanied  by  Miss  Leech.  When 
they  passed  Axel's  house  she  saw  that  his  gate- 
posts were  festooned  with  wreaths,  and  that  gar- 
lands of  flowers  were  strung  across  the  gateway, 
swaying  to  and  fro  softly  in  the  light  breeze. 
"  Why,  how  festive  it  looks,"  she  exclaimed,  won- 
dering. 

"  Yesterday  was  Herr  von  Lohm's  birthday,"  said 
Miss  Leech.     "  I  heard  Princess  Ludwig  say  so." 

"  Oh,"  said  Anna.  Her  tone  was  piqued.  She 
turned  her  head  away,  and  looked  at  the  hay-fields 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road.  Axel  must  have 
birthdays,  of  course,  and  why  should  he  not  put 
things  round  his  gate-posts  if  he  wanted  to  ?  Yet 
she  would  not  look  again,  and  was  silent  the  rest 
of  the  way ;  nor  was  it  of  any  use  for  Miss  Leech 
to  attempt  to  while  away  the  long  drive  with  pleas- 
ant conversation.  Anna  would  not  talk ;  she  said 
it  was  too  hot  to  talk.  What  she  was  thinking 
was  that  men  were  exceedingly  horrid,  all  of  them, 
and  that  life  was  a  snare. 

Far  from  being  festive,  however.  Axel's  latest 
birthday  was  quite  the  most  solitary  he  had  yet 
spent.  The  cheerful  garlands  had  been  put  up  by 
an  officious  gardener  on  his  own  initiative.  No 
one,  except  Axel's  own  dependents,  had  passed 
beneath  them  to  wish  him  luck.     Trudi  had  tele- 

2D  401 


402  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

graphed  her  blessings,  administering  them  thus 
in  their  easiest  form.  His  Stralsund  friends  had 
apparently  forgotten  him ;  in  other  years  they  had 
been  glad  of  the  excuse  the  birthday  gave  for  driv- 
ing out  into  the  country  in  June,  but  this  year  the 
astonished  Mamsell  saw  her  birthday  cake  remain 
untouched  and  her  baked  meats  waiting  vainly  for 
somebody  to  come  and  eat  them. 

Axel  neither  noticed  nor  cared.  The  haymak- 
ing season  had  just  begun,  and  besides  his  own 
affairs  he  was  preoccupied  by  Anna's.  If  she  had 
not  been  shut  up  so  long  in  the  baroness's  sick- 
room she  would  have  met  him  often  enough.  She 
thought  he  never  intended  to  come  near  her  again, 
and  all  the  time,  whenever  he  could  spare  a  mo- 
ment and  often  when  he  could  not,  he  was  on  her 
property,  watching  Dellwig's  farming  operations. 
She  should  not  suffer,  he  told  himself,  because  he 
loved  her;  she  should  not  be  punished  because 
she  was  not  able  to  love  him.  He  would  go  on 
doing  what  he  could  for  her,  and  was  certainly,  at 
his  age,  not  going  to  sulk  and  leave  her  to  face 
her  difficulties  alone. 

The  first  time  he  met  Dellwig  on  these  incur- 
sions into  Anna's  domain,  he  expected  to  be  received 
with  a  scowl ;  but  Dellwig  did  not  scowl  at  all ; 
was  on  the  contrary  quite  affable,  even  volunteering 
information  about  the  work  he  had  in  hand.  Nor 
had  he  been  after  all  offensively  zealous  in  search- 
ing for  the  person  who  had  set  the  stables  on  fire ; 
and  luckily  the  Stralsund  police  had  not  been  very 
zealous  either.  Klutz  was  looked  for  for  a  little 
while  after  Axel  had  denounced  him  as  the  probable 
culprit,  but  the  matter  had  been  dropped,  appar- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  403 

ently,  and  for  the  last  ten  days  nothing  more  had 
been  said  or  done.  Axel  was  beginning  to  hope 
that  the  whole  thing  had  blown  over,  that  there 
was  to  be  no  unpleasantness  after  all  for  Anna. 
Hearing  that  the  baroness  was  nearly  well,  he 
decided  to  go  and  call  at  Kleinwalde  as  though 
nothing  had  happened.  Some  time  or  other  he 
must  meet  Anna.  They  could  not  live  on  adjoin- 
ing estates  and  never  see  each  other.  The  day 
after  his  birthday  he  arranged  to  go  round  in  the 
afternoon  and  take  up  the  threads  of  ordinary 
intercourse  again,  however  much  it  made  him 
suffer. 

Meanwhile  Anna  did  her  business  in  Stralsund, 
discovered  on  interviewing  her  banker  that  she 
had  already  spent  more  than  two-thirds  of  a  whole 
year's  income,  lunched  pensively  after  that  on 
ices  with  Miss  Leech,  walked  down  to  the  quay 
and  watched  the  unloading  of  the  fishing-smacks 
while  Fritz  and  the  horses  had  their  dinner,  was 
very  much  stared  at  by  the  inhabitants,  who 
seldom  saw  anything  so  pretty,  and  finally,  about 
two  o'clock,  started  again  for  home. 

As  they  drew  near  Axel's  gate,  and  she  was 
preparing  to  turn  her  face  away  from  its  ostenta- 
tious gaiety,  a  closed  Droschke  came  through  it 
towards  them,  followed  at  a  short  distance  by  a 
second. 

Miss  Leech  said  nothing,  strange  though  this 
spectacle  was  on  that  quiet  road,  for  she  felt  that 
these  were  the  departing  guests,  and,  like  Anna, 
she  wondered  how  a  man  who  loved  in  vain  could 
have  the  heart  to  give  parties.  Anna  said  nothing 
either,  but  watched  the   approaching  Droschkes 


404  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

curiously.  Axel  was  sitting  in  the  first  one,  on 
the  side  near  her.  He  wore  his  ordinary  farming 
clothes,  the  Norfolk  jacket,  and  the  soft  green 
hat.  There  were  three  men  with  him,  seedy- 
looking  individuals  in  black  coats.  She  bowed 
instinctively,  for  he  was  looking  out  of  the  window 
full  at  her,  but  he  took  no  notice.  She  turned 
very  white. 

The  second  Droschke  contained  four  more 
queer-looking  persons  in  black  clothes.  When 
they  had  passed,  Fritz  pulled  up  his  horses  of 
his  own  accord,  and  twisting  himself  round  stared 
after  the  receding  cloud  of  dust. 

Anna  had  been  cut  by  Axel ;  but  it  was  not 
that  that  made  her  turn  so  white  —  it  was  some- 
thing in  his  face.  He  had  looked  straight  at  her, 
and  he  had  not  seen  her. 

"  Who  are  those  people  ?  "  she  asked  Fritz  in  a 
voice  that  faltered,  she  did  not  know  why. 

Fritz  did  not  answer.  He  stared  down  the 
road  after  the  Droschkes,  shook  his  head,  began 
to  scratch  it,  jerked  himself  round  again  to  his 
horses,  drove  on  a  few  yards,  pulled  them  up  a 
second  time,  looked  back,  shook  his  head,  and  was 
silent. 

"  Fritz,  do  you  know  them  ?  "  Anna  asked  more 
authoritatively. 

But  Fritz  only  mumbled  something  soothing 
and  drove  on. 

Anna  had  not  failed  to  notice  the  old  man's 
face  as  he  watched  the  departing  Droschkes ;  it 
wore  an  oddly  amazed  and  scared  expression. 
Her  heart  seemed  to  sink  within  her  like  a  stone, 
yet  she  could  give  herself  no  reason  for  it.     She 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  405 

tried  to  order  him  to  turn  up  the  avenue  to  Axel's 
house,  but  her  lips  were  dry,  and  the  words  would 
not  come ;  and  while  she  was  struggling  to  speak 
the  gate  was  passed.  Then  she  was  relieved  that 
it  was  passed,  for  how  could  she,  only  because  she 
had  a  presentiment  of  trouble,  go  to  Axel's  house? 
What  did  she  think  of  doing  there  ?  Miss  Leech 
glanced  at  her,  and  asked  if  anything  was  the 
matter. 

"  No,"  said  Anna  in  a  whisper,  looking  straight 
before  her.  Nor  was  there  anything  the  matter ; 
only  that  blind  look  on  Axel's  face,  and  the  strange 
feeling  in  her  heart. 

A  knot  of  people  stood  outside  the  post  office 
talking  eagerly.  They  all  stopped  talking  to  stare 
at  Anna  when  the  carriage  came  round  the  corner. 
Fritz  whipped  up  his  horses  and  drove  past  them 
at  a  gallop. 

"  Wait  —  I  want  to  get  out,"  cried  Anna  as  they 
came  to  the  parsonage.  "  Do  you  mind  waiting  ?  " 
she  asked  Miss  Leech.  "  I  want  to  speak  to  Herr 
Pastor.     I  will  not  be  a  moment." 

She  went  up  the  little  trim  path  to  the  porch. 
The  maid-of -all-work  was  clearing  away  the  coffee 
from  the  table.  Frau  Manske  came  bustling  out 
when  she  heard  Anna's  voice  asking  for  her  hus- 
band. She  looked  extraordinarily  excited.  "  He 
has  not  come  back  yet,"  she  cried  before  Anna 
could  speak,  "he  is  still  at  the  Schloss,  Gott  Du 
Allmachtiger,  did  one  ever  hear  of  anything  so 
terrible  '^.  " 

Anna  looked  at  her,  her  face  as  w^hite  as  her 
dress.  "  Tell  me,"  she  tried  to  say ;  but  no  sound 
passed  her  lips.     She  made  a  great  effort,  and 


4o6  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

the  words  came  in   a  whisper :   "  Tell  me,"   she 
said. 

"  What,  the  gracious  Miss  has  not  heard  ?  Herr 
von  Lohm  has  been  arrested." 

It  was  impossible  not  to  enjoy  imparting  so 
tremendous  a  piece  of  news,  however  genuinely 
shocked  one  might  be.  Frau  Manske  brought  it 
out  with  a  ring  of  pride.  It  would  not  be  easy  to 
beat,  she  felt,  in  the  way  of  news.  Then  she  re- 
membered the  gossip  about  Anna  and  Axel,  and 
observed  her  with  increased  interest.  Was  she 
going  to  faint  ?  It  would  be  the  only  becoming 
course  for  her  to  take  if  it  were  true  that  there  had 
been  courting. 

But  Anna,  whose  voice  had  failed  her  before, 
when  once  she  had  heard  what  it  was  that  had 
happened,  seemed  curiously  cold  and  composed. 

"  What  was  he  accused  of  ?  "  was  all  she  asked  ; 
so  calmly,  Frau  Manske  afterwards  told  her  friends, 
that  it  was  not  even  womanly  in  the  face  of  so  great 
a  misfortune. 

"  He  set  fire  to  the  stables,"  said  Frau  Manske. 

"  It  is  a  He,"  said  Anna ;  also,  as  Frau  Manske 
afterwards  pointed  out  to  her  friends,  an  unwomanly 
remark. 

"  He  did  it  himself  to  get  the  insurance  money." 

"  It  is  a  lie,"  repeated  Anna,  in  that  cold  voice. 

"  Eye-witnesses  will  swear  to  it." 

"  They  will  lie,"  said  Anna  again ;  and  turned 
and  walked  away.  "Go  on,"  she  said  to  Fritz, 
taking  her  place  beside  Miss  Leech. 

She  sat  quite  silent  till  they  were  near  the  house. 
Then  she  called  to  the  coachman  to  stop.  "  I  am 
going  into  the  forest  for  a  little  while,"  she  said, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  407 

jumping  out.  "  You  drive  on  home."  And  she 
crossed  the  road  quickly,  her  white  dress  fluttering 
for  a  moment  between  the  pine-trunks,  and  then 
disappearing  in  the  soft  green  shadow. 

Miss  Leech  drove  on  alone,  sighing  gently. 
Something  was  troubling  her  dear  Miss  Estcourt. 
Something  out  of  the  ordinary  had  happened.  She 
wished  she  could  help  her.     She  drove  on,  sighing. 

Directly  the  road  was  out  of  sight,  Anna  struck 
back  again  to  the  left,  across  the  moss  and  lichen, 
towards  the  place  where  she  knew  there  was  a 
path  that  led  to  Lohm.  She  walked  very  straight 
and  very  quickly.  She  did  not  miss  her  way,  but 
found  the  path  and  hastened  her  steps  to  a  run. 
What  were  they  doing  to  Axel  ?  She  was  going 
to  his  house,  alone.  People  would  talk.  Who 
cared?  And  when  she  had  heard  all  that  could 
be  told  her  there,  she  was  going  to  Axel  himself. 
People  would  talk.  Who  cared  ?  The  laughable 
indifference  of  slander,  w^hen  big  issues  of  life  and 
death  were  at  stake !  All  the  tongues  of  all  the 
world  should  not  frighten  her  away  from  Axel. 
Her  eyes  had  a  new  look  in  them.  For  the  first 
time  she  was  wide  awake,  was  facing  life  as  it  is 
without  dreams,  facing  its  absolute  cruelty  and 
pitilessness.  This  was  life,  these  w^ere  the  realities 
— suffering, injustice,  and  shame  ;  not  to  be  avoided 
apparently  by  the  most  honourable  and  innocent 
of  men ;  but  at  least  to  be  fought  with  all  the 
weapons  in  one's  power,  with  unflinching  courage 
to  the  end,  whatever  that  end  might  be.  That 
was  what  one  needed  most,  of  all  the  gifts  of  the 
gods — not  happiness — oh,  foolish,  childish  dream! 
how  could  there  be  happiness  so  long  as  men  were 


4o8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

wicked  ?  —  but  courage.  That  blind  look  on 
Axel's  face  —  no,  she  would  not  think  of  that ;  it 
tore  her  heart.     She  stumbled  a  little  as  she  ran 

—  no,  she  would  not  think  of  that. 

Out  in  the  open,  between  the  forest  and  Lohm, 
she  met  Manske.     "  I  was  coming  to  you,"  he  said. 

"  I  am  going  to  him,"  said  Anna. 

"  Oh,  my  dear  young  lady ! "  cried  Manske ; 
and  two  big  tears  rolled  down  his  face. 

"  Don't  cry,"  she  said,  "  it  does  not  help  him." 

"  How  can  I  not  do  so  after  seeing  what  I  have 
this  day  seen  ?  " 

She  hurried  on.  "  Come,"  she  said,  "  we  must 
not  waste  time.  He  needs  help.  I  am  going  to 
his  house  to  see  what  I  can  do.  Where  did  they 
take  himx  ? " 

"  They  took  him  to  prison." 

"  Where  ? " 

"  Stralsund." 

"  Will  he  be  there  long  ?  " 

"  Till  after  the  trial." 

"  And  that  will  be  ?  " 

"  God  knows." 

"  I  am  going  to  him.  Come  with  me.  We  will 
take  his  horses." 

"  Oh,  dear  Miss,  dear  Miss,"  cried  Manske, 
wringing  his  hands,  "  they  will  not  let  us  see  him 

—  you  they  will  not  let  in  under  any  circum- 
stances, and  me  only  across  mountains  of  obstacles. 
The  official  who  conducted  the  arrest,  when  I 
prayed  for  permission  to  visit  my  dear  patron,  was 
brutality  itself.  '  Why  should  you  visit  him  ? '  he 
asked,  sneering.  '  The  prison  chaplain  will  do  all 
that  is  needful  for  his  soul'     '  Let  it  be,  Manske,' 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  409 

said  my  dear  patron,  but  still  I  prayed.  '  I  cannot 
give  you  permission,'  said  the  man  at  last,  weary 
of  my  importunity,  '  it  rests  with  my  chief.  You 
must  go  to  him.' " 

"  Who  is  the  chief  ?  " 

"  I  know  not.  I  know  nothing.  My  head  is  in 
a  whirl." 

"He  must  be  somewhere  in  Stralsund.  We 
will  find  him,  if  we  have  to  ask  from  door  to  door. 
And  I'll  get  permission  for  myself." 

"  Oh,  dearest  Miss,  none  will  be  given  you. 
The  man  said  only  his  nearest  relatives,  and  those 
only  very  seldom  —  for  I  asked  all  I  could,  I  felt 
the  moments  were  priceless  —  my  dear  patron 
spoke  not  a  word.  '  His  wife,  if  he  has  one,'  said 
the  man,  making  hideous  pleasantries  —  he  well 
knew  there  is  no  wife  —  or  his  Braut,  if  there  is 
one,  or  a  brother  or  a  sister,  but  no  one  else." 

"  Do  his  brothers  and  Trudi  know  1 " 

"  I  at  once  telegraphed  to  them." 

"  Then  they  will  be  here  to-night." 

The  women  and  children  in  the  village  ran  out 
to  look  at  Anna  as  she  passed.  She  did  not  see 
them.  Axel's  house  stood  open.  The  Mamsell, 
overcome  by  the  shame  of  having  been  in  such  a 
service,  was  in  hysterics  in  the  kitchen,  and  the 
inspector,  a  devoted  servant  who  loved  his  master, 
was  upbraiding  her  with  bitterest  indignation  for 
daring  to  say  such  things  of  such  a  master.  The 
Mamsell's  laments  and  the  inspector's  furious  re- 
proaches echoed  through  the  empty  house.  The 
door,  like  the  gate,  was  garlanded  with  flowers. 
Little  more  than  an  hour  had  gone  by  since  Axel 
passed  out  beneath  them  to  ruin. 


4IO  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Anna  went  straight  to  the  study.  His  papers 
were  lying  about  in  disorder ;  the  drawer  of  the 
writing-table  was  unlocked,  and  his  keys  hung  in 
it.  He  had  been  writing  letters,  evidently,  for  an 
unfinished  one  lay  on  the  table.  She  stood  a  mo- 
ment quite  still  in  the  silent  room.  Manske  had 
gone  to  find  the  coachman,  and  she  could  hear 
his  steps  on  the  stones  beneath  the  open  windows. 
The  desolation  of  the  deserted  room,  the  terrible 
sense  of  misfortune  worse  than  death  that  brooded 
over  it,  struck  her  like  a  blow  that  for  ever  de- 
stroyed her  cheerful  youth.  She  never  forgot  the 
look  and  the  feeling  of  that  room.  She  went  to 
the  writing-table,  dropped  on  her  knees,  and  laid 
her  cheek,  with  an  abandonment  of  tenderness, 
on  the  open,  unfinished  letter.     "  How  are  such 

things  possible  —  how  are  they  possible "  she 

murmured  passionately,  shutting  her  eyes  to  press 
back  the  useless  tears.     "So  useless  to  cry,  so 
useless,"  she  repeated  piteously,   as  she  felt  the 
scalding  tears,  in  spite  of  all  her  efforts  to  keep 
them  back,  steahng  through  her  eyelashes.     And 
everything  else  that  she  did  or  could  do  —  how 
useless.     What  could  she  do  for  him,  who  had  no 
claim  on  him  at  all  ?     How  could  she  reach  him 
across  this  gulf  of  misery  ?      Yes,  it  was  good  to 
be  brave  in  this  world,  it  was  good  to  have  cour- 
age, but  courage  without  weapons,  of  what  use 
was  it }    She  was  a  woman,  a  stranger  in  a  strange 
land,  she  had  no  friends,  no  influence  —  she  was 
useless.     Manske  found  her  kneeling  there,  hold- 
ing the  writing-table  tightly  in  her  outstretched 
arms,  pressing  her  bosom  against  it  as  though  it 
were    something  that   could  feel,  her  eyes  shut, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  411 

her  face  a  desolation.  "  Do  not  cry,"  he  begged 
in  his  turn,  "dearest  Miss,  do  not  cry  —  it  cannot 
help  him." 

They  locked  up  his  papers  and  everything  that 
they  thought  might  be  of  value  before  they  left. 
Manske  took  the  keys.  Anna  half  put  out  her 
hand  for  them,  then  dropped  it  at  her  side.  She 
had  less  claim  than  Manske :  he  was  Axel's  pas- 
tor; she  was  nothing  to  him  at  all. 

They  left  the  dog-cart  at  the  entrance  to  the 
town  and  went  in  search  of  a  Droschke.  Manske's 
weather-beaten  face  flushed  a  dull  red  when  he 
gave  the  order  to  drive  to  the  prison.  The  prison 
was  in  a  by-street  of  shabby  houses.  Heads 
appeared  at  the  windows  of  the  houses  as  the 
Droschke  rattled  up  over  the  r*bugh  stones,  and 
the  children  playing  about  the  doors  and  gutters 
stopped  their  games  and  crowded  round  to  stare. 

They  went  up  the  dirty  steps  and  rang  the  bell. 
The  door  was  immediately  opened  a  few  inches 
by  an  official  who  shouted  "  The  visiting  hour  is 
past,"  and  shut  it  again. 

Manske  rang  a  second  time. 

"Well,  what  do  you  want.^*"  asked  the  man 
angrily,  thrusting  out  his  head. 

Manske  stated,  in  the  mildest,  most  conciliatory 
tones,  that  he  would  be  infinitely  obliged  if  he 
would  tell  him  what  steps  he  ought  to  take  to 
obtain  permission  to  visit  one  of  the  inmates. 

"  You  must  have  a  written  order,"  snapped  the 
man,  preparing  to  shut  the  door  again.  The 
street  children  were  clustering  at  the  bottom  of 
the  steps,  listening  eagerly. 

"  To  whom  should  I  apply  t "  asked  Manske. 


412  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

"  To  the  judge  who  has  conducted  the  prelimi- 
nary inquiries." 

The  door  was  slammed,  and  locked  from  within 
with  a  great  noise  of  rattling  keys.  The  sound 
of  the  keys  made  Anna  feel  faint;  Axel  was  on 
the  other  side  of  that  ostentation  of  brute  force. 
She  leaned  against  the  wall  shivering.  The  chil- 
dren tittered;  she  was  a  very  fine  lady,  they 
thought,  to  have  friends  in  there. 

"The  judge  who  conducted  the  preHminary 
inquiries,"  repeated  Manske,  looking  dazed. 
"  Who  may  he  be  ?  Where  shall  we  find  him  ? 
I  fear  I  am  sadly  inexperienced  in  these  matters." 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  face  the 
official's  wrath  once  more.  He  timidly  rang  the 
bell  again.  This  time  he  was  kept  waiting. 
There  was  a  little  round  window  in  the  door,  and 
he  could  see  the  man  on  the  other  side  leaning 
against  a  table  trimming  his  nails.  The  man 
also  could  see  him.  Manske  began  to  knock  on 
the  glass  in  his  desperation.  The  man  remained 
absorbed  by  his  nails. 

Anna  was  suffering  a  martyrdom.  Her  head 
drooped  lower  and  lower.  The  children  laughed 
loud.  Just  then  heavy  steps  were  heard  approach- 
ing on  the  pavement,  and  the  children  fled  with 
one  accord.  Immediately  afterwards  an  official, 
apparently  of  a  higher  grade  than  the  man  within, 
came  up.  He  glanced  curiously  at  the  two  sup- 
pliants as  he  thrust  his  hand  into  his  pocket  and 
pulled  out  a  key.  Before  he  could  fit  it  in  the 
lock  the  man  on  the  other  side  had  seen  him,  had 
sprung  to  the  door,  flung  it  open,  and  stood  at 
attention. 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  413 

Manske  saw  that  here  was  his  opportunity. 
He  snatched  off  his  hat.  "  Sir,"  he  cried,  "  one 
moment,  for  God's  sake." 

"  Well  ?  "  inquired  the  official  sharply. 

"  Where  can  I  obtain  an  order  of  admission  ?  " 

"  To  see ?  " 

"  My  dear  patron,  Herr  von  Lohm,  who  by  some 
incomprehensible  and  appalling  mistake " 

"  You  must  go  to  the  judge  who  conducted  the 
preliminary  inquiries." 

"  But  who  is  he,  and  where  is  he  to  be  found  ? " 

The  official  looked  at  his  watch.  "  If  you 
hurry  you  may  still  find  him  at  the  Law  Courts. 
In  the  next  street.     Examining  Judge  Schultz." 

And  the  door  was  shut. 

So  they  went  to  the  Law  Courts,  and  hurried 
up  and  down  staircases  and  along  endless  corri- 
dors, vainly  looking  for  someone  to  direct  them 
to  Examining  Judge  Schultz.  The  building  was 
empty;  they  did  not  meet  a  soul,  and  they  went 
down  one  passage  after  the  other,  anguish  in  Anna's 
heart,  and  misery  hardly  less  acute  in  Manske's. 
At  last  they  heard  distant  voices  echoing  through 
the  emptiness.  They  followed  the  sound,  and 
found  two  women  cleaning. 

"  Can  you  direct  me  to  the  room  of  the  Examin- 
ing Judge  Schultz?"  asked  Manske,  bowing 
politely. 

"  The  gentlemen  have  all  gone  home.  Business 
hours  are  over,"  was  the  answer.  Could  they 
perhaps  give  his  private  address  ?  No,  they 
could  not ;  perhaps  the  porter  knew.  Where  was 
the  porter?     Somewhere  about. 

They  hurried  downstairs  again  in  search  of  the 


414  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

porter.  Another  ten  minutes  was  wasted  looking 
for  him.  They  saw  him  at  last  through  the  glass 
of  the  entrance  door,  airing  himself  on  the  steps. 

The  porter  gave  them  the  address,  and  they  lost 
some  more  minutes  trying  to  find  their  Droschke, 
for  they  had  come  out  at  a  different  entrance  to 
the  one  they  had  gone  in  by.  By  this  time  Manske 
was  speechless,  and  Anna  was  half  dead. 

They  climbed  three  flights  of  stairs  to  the 
Examining  Judge's  flat,  and  after  being  kept  wait- 
ing a  long  while  — ''  Der  Herr  Untersuchungs- 
richter  ist  bet  Tisch','  the  slovenly  girl  had 
announced  —  were  told  by  him  very  curtly  that 
they  must  go  to  the  Public  Prosecutor  for  the 
order.  Anna  went  out  without  a  word.  Manske 
bowed  and  apologised  profusely  for  having  dis- 
turbed the  Herr  Untersuchungsrichter  at  his  re- 
past; he  felt  the  necessity  of  grovelling  before 
these  persons  whose  power  was  so  almighty. 
The  Examining  Judge  made  no  reply  whatever 
to  these  piteous  amiabilities,  but  turned  on  his 
heel,  leaving  them  to  find  the  door  as  best  they 
could. 

The  Public  Prosecutor  lived  at  the  other  end 
of  the  town.  They  neither  of  them  spoke  a  word 
on  the  way  there.  In  answer  to  their  anxious 
inquiry  whether  they  could  speak  to  him,  the 
woman  who  opened  the  door  said  that  her  master 
was  asleep;  it  was  his  hour  for  repose,  having 
just  supped,  and  he  could  not  possibly  be 
disturbed. 

Anna  began  to  cry.  Manske  gripped  hold  of 
her  hand  and  held  it  fast,  patting  it  while  he  con- 
tinued to  question  the  servant.     "  He  will  see  no 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  415 

one  so  late,"  she  said.  "  He  will  sleep  now  till 
nine,  and  then  go  out.  You  must  come  to- 
morrow." 

"  At  what  time  ?  " 

"  At  ten  he  goes  to  the  Law  Courts.  You  must 
come  before  then." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Manske,  and  drew  Anna 
away.  "  Do  not  cry,  liedes  Kind^'  he  implored, 
his  own  eyes  brimming  with  miserable  tears. 
"  Do  not  let  the  coachman  see  you  like  this.  We 
must  go  home  now.  There  is  nothing  to  be  done. 
We  will  come  early  to-morrow,  and  have  more 
success." 

They  stopped  a  moment  in  the  dark  entrance 
below,  trying  to  compose  their  faces  before  going 
out.  They  did  not  dare  look  at  each  other. 
Then  they  went  out  and  drove  away. 

The  stars  were  shining  as  they  passed  along  the 
quiet  country  road,  and  all  the  way  was  drenched 
with  the  fragrance  of  clover  and  freshly-cut  hay. 
The  sky  above  the  rye  fields  on  the  left  was  still 
rosy.  Not  a  leaf  stirred.  Once,  when  the  coach- 
man stopped  to  take  a  stone  out  of  a  horse's  shoe, 
they  could  hear  the  crickets,  and  the  cheerful 
humming  of  a  column  of  gnats  high  above  their 
heads. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

GusTAV  VON  LoHM  found  Manske's  telegram 
on  his  table  when  he  came  in  with  his  wife  from 
his  afternoon  ride  in  the  Thiergarten. 

"  What  is  it  ? "  she  inquired,  seeing  him  turn 
pale ;  and  she  took  it  out  of  his  hand  and  read  it. 
"  Disgraceful,"  she  murmured. 

"  I  must  go  at  once,"  he  said,  looking  round 
helplessly. 

"Go?" 

When  a  wife  says  "  Go  ? "  in  that  voice,  if  she 
is  a  person  of  determination  and  her  husband  is  a 
person  of  peace,  he  does  not  go ;  he  stays.  Gus- 
tav  stayed.  It  is  true  that  at  first  he  decided  to 
leave  Berlin  by  the  early  train  next  morning ;  but 
his  wife  employed  the  hours  of  darkness  address- 
ing him,  as  he  lay  sleepless,  in  the  language  of 
wisdom ;  and  the  wisdom  being  of  that  robust 
type  known  as  worldly,  it  inevitably  produced  its 
effect  on  a  mind  naturally  receptive. 

"  Relations,"  she  said,  "  are  at  all  times  bad 
enough.  They  do  less  for  you  and  expect  more 
from  you  than  anyone  else.  They  are  the  last  to 
congratulate  if  you  succeed,  and  the  first  to  aban- 
don if  you  fail.  They  are  at  one  and  the  same 
time  abnormally  truthful,  and  abnormally  sensi- 
tive. They  regard  it  as  infinitely  more  blessed 
to  administer  home-truths  than  to  receive  them 
back  again.     But,  so  long  as  they  do  not  actually 

416 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  417 

break  the  laws,  prejudice  demands  that  they  shall 
be  borne  with.  In  my  family,  no  one  ever  broke 
the  laws.  It  has  been  reserved  for  my  married 
life,  this  connection  with  criminals." 

She  was  a  woman  of  ready  and  frequent  speech, 
and  she  continued  in  this  strain  for  some  time. 
Towards  morning,  nature  refusing  to  endure  more, 
Gustav  fell  asleep;  and  when  he  woke  the  early 
train  was  gone. 

In  the  same  manner  did  his  wife  prevent  his 
writing  to  his  unhappy  brother.  "  It  is  sad  that 
such  things  should  be,"  she  said,  "sad  that  a  man 
of  birth  should  commit  so  vulgar  a  crime ;  but  he 
has  done  it,  he  has  disgraced  us,  he  has  struck  a 
blow  at  our  social  position  which  may  easily,  if 
we  are  not  careful,  prove  fatal.  Take  my  advice 
—  have  nothing  to  do  with  him.  Leave  him  to 
be  dealt  with  as  the  law  shall  demand.  We  who 
abide  by  the  laws  are  surely  justified  in  shunning, 
in  abhorring,  those  who  deliberately  break  them. 
Leave  him  alone." 

And  Gustav  left  him  alone. 

Trudi  was  at  a  picnic  when  the  telegram 
reached  her  flat.  With  several  of  her  female 
friends  and  a  great  many  lieutenants  she  was 
playing  at  being  frisky  among  the  haycocks 
beyond  the  town.  Her  two  little  boys,  Billy  and 
Tommy,  who  would  really  have  enjoyed  hay- 
cocks, were  left  sternly  at  home.  She  invited 
the  whole  party  to  supper  at  her  flat,  and  drove 
home  in  the  dog-cart  of  the  richest  of  the  young 
men,  making  immense  efforts  to  please  him,  and 
feeling  that  she  must  be  looking  very  picturesque 
and  sweet  in  her  flower-trimmed  straw  hat  and 

2E 


4i8  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

muslin  dress,  silhouetted  against  the  pale  gold  of 
the  evening  sky. 

Her  eye  fell  on  the  telegram  as  the  picnic  party 
came  crowding  in. 

"  Bill  coming  home  ?  "  inquired  somebody. 

"  I'm  afraid  he  is,"  she  said,  opening  it. 

She  read  it,  and  could  not  prevent  a  change  of 
expression.  There  was  a  burst  of  laughter.  The 
young  men  declared  they  would  never  marry. 
The  young  women,  prone  at  all  times  to  pity 
other  women's  husbands,  criticised  Trudi's  pale 
face,  and  secretly  pitied  Bill.  She  lit  a  cigarette, 
flung  herself  into  a  chair,  and  became  very  cheer- 
ful. She  had  never  been  so  amusing.  She  kept 
them  in  a  state  of  uproarious  mirth  till  the  small 
hours.  The  richest  lieutenant,  who  had  found 
her  distinctly  a  bore  during  the  drive  home,  went 
away  feeling  quite  affectionate.  When  they  had 
all  gone,  she  dropped  on  to  her  bed,  and  cried, 
and  cried. 

It  was  in  the  papers  next  morning,  and  at  break- 
fast Trudi  and  her  family  were  in  every  mouth. 
Bibi  came  running  round,  genuinely  distressed. 
She  had  not  been  invited  to  the  picnic,  but  she 
forgot  that  in  her  sympathy.  "  I  wanted  to  catch 
you  before  you  start,"  she  said,  vigorously  embrac- 
ing her  poor  friend. 

"  Where  should  I  start  for  ?  "  asked  Trudi,  offer- 
ing a  cold  cheek  to  Bibi's  kisses. 

"  Are  you  not  going  to  Herr  von  Lohm  ?  "  ex- 
claimed Bibi,  open-mouthed. 

"  What,  when  he  tries  to  cheat  insurance  com- 
panies ? " 

"  But  he  never,  never  set  fire  to  those  buildings 
himself." 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  419 

"  Didn't  he,  though  ?  "  Trudi  turned  her  head, 
and  looked  straight  into  Bibi's  eyes.  "  I  know 
him  better  than  you  do,"  she  said  slowly. 

She  had  decided  that  that  was  the  only  way  — 
to  cast  him  off  altogether ;  and  it  must  be  done  at 
once  and  thoroughly.  Indeed,  how  was  it  possi- 
ble not  to  hate  him  ?  It  was  the  most  dreadful 
thing  to  happen  to  her.  She  would  suffer  by  it 
in  every  way.  If  he  w^ere  guilty  or  not  guilty,  he 
was  anyhow  a  fool  to  let  himself  get  into  such 
a  position,  and  how  she  hated  such  fools !  She 
registered  a  solemn  vow  that  she  had  done  with 
Axel  for  ever. 

At  Kleinwalde  the  effect  of  the  news  was  to 
make  Frau  Dellwig  slay  a  pig  and  send  out  invi- 
tations for  an  unusually  large  Sunday  party.  She 
and  her  husband  could  hardly  veil  their  beaming 
satisfaction  with  a  decent  appearance  of  dismay. 
"  What  would  his  poor  father,  our  gracious  mas- 
ter's oldest  friend,  have  said !  "  ejaculated  Dellwig 
at  dinner,  when  the  servant  was  in  the  room. 

"  It  is  truly  merciful  that  he  did  not  live  to  see 
it,"  said  his  wife,  with  pious  head-shakings. 

What  Anna  was  doing  at  Stralsund,  no  one 
knew.  She  said  she  was  having  some  bother 
with  her  bank.  Miss  Leech  related  how  they 
had  been  to  the  bank  on  the  Monday.  "  I  must 
go  again,"  Anna  said  on  the  evening  of  the  fruit- 
less Tuesday,  when  she  had  been  the  whole  day 
again  with  Manske,  vainly  trying  to  obtain  per- 
mission to  visit  Axel ;  and  she  added,  her  head 
drooping,  her  voice  faint,  that  it  was  a  great  bore. 
Certainly  she  looked  profoundly  unhappy. 

"  One  cannot  be  too  careful  in  money  matters," 


420  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

remarked  Frau  von  Treumann,  alarmed  by  Anna's 
white  looks,  and  afraid  lest  by  some  foolish  neg- 
lect on  her  part  supplies  should  cease.  She  en- 
thusiastically encouraged  these  visits  to  the  bank. 
"  Take  care  of  your  bank,"  she  said,  "  and  your 
bank  will  take  care  of  you.  That  is  what  we  say 
in  Germany." 

But  Anna  did  not  hear.  There  was  but  one 
thought  in  her  mind,  one  cry  in  her  heart  —  how 
could  she  reach,  how  could  she  help.  Axel  ? 

He  was  in  a  cell  about  five  yards  long  by  three 
wide.  There  was  just  room  to  pass  between  the 
camp  bedstead  and  the  small  deal  table  standing 
against  the  opposite  wall.  Besides  this  furniture, 
there  was  one  chair,  an  empty  wooden  box  turned 
up  on  end,  with  a  tin  basin  on  it  —  that  was  his 
washstand — a  little  shelf  fixed  on  the  wall,  and 
on  the  little  shelf  a  tin  mug,  a  tin  plate,  a  pot  of 
salt,  a  small  loaf  of  black  bread,  and  a  Bible.  The 
walls  were  painted  brown,  and  the  window,  fitted 
with  ground  glass,  was  high  up  near  the  ceiling ; 
it  was  barred  on  the  outside,  and  could  only  be 
opened  a  few  inches  at  the  top.  On  the  door  a 
neat  printed  card  was  fastened,  giving,  besides  in- 
formation for  the  guidance  of  the  habitually  dirty 
as  to  the  cleansing  properties  of  water,  the  quantity 
of  oakum  the  occupant  of  the  cell  would  be  ex- 
pected to  pick  every  day.  The  cell  was  used 
sometimes  for  condemned  criminals,  hence  the 
mention  of  the  oakum ;  but  the  card  caught  Axel's 
eye  whenever  he  reached  that  end  of  the  room  in 
his  pacings  up  and  down,  and  without  knowing  it 
he  learnt  its  rules  by  heart. 

At  first  he  had  been   completely  dazed,  abso- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  421 

lutely  unable  to  understand  the  meaning  and  extent 
of  the  misfortune  that   had  overtaken  him;  but 
there  was  a  grim,  uncompromising  reahty  about  the 
prison,  about  the  heav^^  doors  he  passed  through, 
each  one  barred  and  locked  behind  him,  each  one 
cutting  him  off  more  utterly  from  the  common 
free  life  outside,  about  the  look  of  the  miserable 
beings  he  met  being  taken  to  or  from  their  work 
by  armed  warders,  about  the  warders  themselves 
with  their  great  keys,  polished  by  frequent  use  — 
there  was  about  these  things  an  inexorable  reality 
that  shook  him  out  of  the  blind  apathy  into  which 
he  had  fallen  after  his  arrest.    Some  extraordinary 
mistake  had  been  made  ;  and,  knowing  that  he  had 
done  nothing,  when  first  he  began  to  think  con- 
nectedly he  was  certain  that  it  could  only  be  a 
matter  of  hours  before  he  was  released.     But  the 
horror  of  his  position  was  there.     Released  or  not 
released,  who  would  make  good  to  him  what  he 
was  suffering  and  what  he  would  have  lost?     He 
had  been  searched  on  his  arrival  —  his   money, 
watch,  and  a  ring  he  wore  of  his  mother's  taken 
from  him.     The  young  official  who  arrested  him 
—  he  was  the  Junior  PubHc  Prosecutor  —  presided 
at  these  operations  with    immense   zeal.     Being 
young  and  obscure,  he  thirsted  to  make  a  nanie 
for  himself,  and  opportunities  were  few  in  that  lit- 
tle town.     To  be  put  in  charge,  therefore,  of  this 
sensational  case,  was  to  behold  opening  out  before 
him  the    rosiest   prospects  for  the   future.     His 
name,  which  was  Meyer,  would  flare  up  in  flames 
of  glory  from  the  ashes  of  Axel's  honour.     Stral- 
sund,  ringing  with   the  ancient   name   of   Lohm, 
would  be  forced  to  ring  simultaneously  with  the 


422  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

less  ancient  and  not  in  itself  interesting  name  of 
Meyer.  He  had  arrested  Lohm,  he  had  special 
charge  of  the  case,  he  could  not  but  be  talked 
about  at  last.  His  zeal  and  satisfaction  accord- 
ingly were  great,  carrying  him  far  beyond  the  lim- 
its usual  on  such  occasions.  Axel  stood  amazed 
at  the  trick  of  fortune  that  had  so  suddenly  flung 
him  into  the  power  of  a  young  man  called  Meyer. 

Soon  after  he  was  locked  in  his  cell,  a  warder 
came  in  with  a  great  pot  of  liquid  food,  a  sort^  of 
thick  soup  made  chiefly  of  beans,  with  other  bodies, 
unknown  to  Axel,  floating  about  among  them. 

"  Your  plate,"  said  the  warder,  jerking  his  head 
in  the  direction  of  the  little  shelf  on  which  stood 
Axel's  dining  facilities  ;  and  he  raised  the  pot  pre- 
paratory to  pouring  out  some  of  its  contents. 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Axel,  "  I  don't  want  any." 

"  You'll  be  hungry  then,"  said  the  man,  going 
away.     "  There  is  no  more  food  to-day." 

Axel  said  nothing,  and  he  went  out.  The  smell 
of  the  soup,  which  was  apparently  of  great  potency, 
filled  the  little  room.  Axel  tried  to  open  the  win- 
dow wider,  but  though  he  was  tall  and  he  stood 
on  his  table,  he  could  not  reach  it. 

It  began  to  get  dark.  The  lamps  in  the  street 
below  were  lit,  and  the  shouts  of  the  children  at 
play  came  up  to  him.  He  guessed  that  it  must 
be  past  nine,  and  wondered  how  long  he  was  to 
be  left  there  without  a  light.  As  it  grew  darker, 
his  thoughts  grew  very  dark.  He  paced  up  and 
down  more  and  more  restlessly,  trying  to  force 
them  into  clearness.  In  the  hurry  and  dismay 
he  had  left  his  keys  at  Lohm,  he  remembered, 
and  all  his  money  and  papers  were  at  the  mercy 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  423 

of  the  first-comer.  And  he  was  poor ;  he  could  not 
afford  to  lose  any  money,  or  any  time.  Supposing 
he  were  to  be  kept  here  more  than  a  few  hours, 
what  would  become  of  his  farming,  just  now  at 
its  busiest  season,  his  people  used  to  his  constant 
direction  and  control,  his  inspector  accustomed  to 
do  nothing  without  the  master's  orders  ?  And 
what  would  be  the  moral  effect  on  them  of  his 
arrest  ?  If  he  had  a  pencil  and  paper  he  would 
write  some  hasty  messages  to  keep  them  all  at 
their  posts  till  his  return ;  but  he  had  no  writing 
materials,  he  was  quite  helpless.  He  had  sent 
urgent  word  to  his  lawyer  in  Stralsund,  tele- 
graphing to  him  through  Manske  before  leav- 
ing home,  and  he  had  expected  to  find  him 
waiting  for  him  at  the  prison.  But  he  had  not 
come.  Why  did  he  not  come?  Why  did  he 
leave  him  helpless  at  such  a  moment?  Axel 
was  determined  to  face  his  misfortune  quietly; 
yet  the  feeling  of  absolute  impotence,  of  being 
as  it  were  bound  hand  and  foot  when  there  was 
such  dire  necessity  for  immediate  action,  almost 
broke  down  his  resolution. 

But  it  was  only  for  a  few  hours,  he  assured  him- 
self, walking  faster,  thrusting  his  hands  deeper  into 
his  pockets,  and  he  could  bear  anything  for  a  few 
hours.  His  brothers  would  come  to  him  —  to-mor- 
row the  first  thing  his  lawyer  would  certainly  come. 
It  was  all  so  extremely  absurd  ;  yet  it  was  amazing 
the  amount  of  suffering  one  such  absurd  mistake 
could  inflict.  "  Thank  God,"  he  exclaimed  aloud, 
stopping  in  his  walk,  struck  by  a  new  thought, 
"thank  God  that  I  have  neither  wife  nor  chil- 
dren."    And  he  paced  up  and  down  again  more 


424  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

slowly,  his  shoulders  bent,  his  head  sunk,  a  dull 
flush  on  his  face ;  he  was  thinking  of  Anna.  ^ 

The  door  was  unlocked,  and  a  warder  with  a 
bull's-eye  lantern  came  in  quickly.  "  The  Public 
Prosecutor  is  coming  up,"  he  said  breathlessly. 
"  When  he  comes  in,  you  stand  at  attention  and 
recite  your  name  and  the  crime  of  which  you  are 
accused." 

He  had  hardly  finished  when  the  Public  Prose- 
cutor appeared.  The  warder  sprang  to  attention. 
Axel  slowly  and  unwillingly  did  the  same. 

"  Well  ?  "  snarled  the  great  man,  as  Axel  did  not 
speak.  He  was  an  old  man,  with  a  face  grown  sly 
and  hard  during  years  of  association  with  criminals, 
of  experiences  confined  solely  to  the  ugly  sides  of 

life. 

"  My  name  is  Lohm,"  said  Axel,  feeling  the  folly 
of  attempting  to  defy  anyone  so  absolutely  power- 
ful in  the  place  where  he  was ;  and  he  proceeded 
to  explain  the  crime  of  which  he  was  suspected. 

The  Public  Prosecutor,  who  knew  perfectly  well 
everything  about  him,  having  himself  arranged 
every  detail  of  the  arrest,  said  something  incom- 
prehensible and  was  going  away. 

"  May  I  have  a  light  of  some  sort?  "  asked  Axel, 
"  and  writing  materials?     I  absolutely  must  be  able 

to 

"  You  cannot  expect  the  luxuries  of  a  Schloss 
here,"  said  the  Public  Prosecutor  with  a  scowl, 
turning  on  his  heel  and  signing  to  the  warder  to 
lock  the  door  again.  And  he  continued  his  rounds, 
congratulating  himself  on  having  demonstrated 
that  in  his  independent  eye  the  bearer  of  the  most 
ancient  name  and  the  offscourings  of  the  street, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  425 

tried  or  untried,  were  equal  —  sinners,  that  is,  all 
of  them  —  and  would  receive  exactly  the  same 
treatment  at  his  hands.  Indeed,  he  was  so  anxious 
to  impress  this  laudable  impartiality  on  the  mem- 
bers of  the  little  prison-world,  which  was  the  only 
world  he  knew,  that  he  overshot  the  mark,  refus- 
ing Axel  small  conveniences  that  he  would  have 
unhesitatingly  granted  a  suppliant  called  Schmidt, 
Schultz,  or  Meyer. 

It  was  now  quite  dark,  except  for  the  faint  light 
from  the  lamps  in  the  street  below.  Weary  to 
death.  Axel  flung  himself  down  on  the  little  bed. 
He  had  brought  a  few  necessaries,  hastily  thrown 
into  a  bag  by  his  servant,  necessaries  that  had  first 
been  carefully  handled  and  inspected  with  every 
symptom  of  distrust  by  the  Junior  Public  Prose- 
cutor Meyer;  but  he  did  not  unpack  them.  Judg- 
ing from  the  shortness  of  the  bed,  he  concluded 
that  criminals  must  be  a  stunted  race.  Sleeping 
was  not  made  easy  by  this  bed,  and  he  lay  awake 
staring  at  the  shadows  cast  by  the  iron  bars  out- 
side his  window  on  to  the  ceiling.  These  shadows 
affected  him  oddly.  He  shut  his  eyes,  but  still  he 
saw  them ;  he  turned  his  head  to  the  wall  and  tried 
not  to  think  of  them,  but  still  he  saw  them.  They 
expressed  the  whole  misery  of  his  situation. 

He  had  dozed  off,  worn  out,  when  a  bright  light 
on  his  face  woke  him.  He  started  up  in  bed,  con- 
fused, hardly  remembering  where  he  was.  A  feel- 
ing very  nearly  resembling  horror  came  over  him. 
A  bull's-eye  lantern  was  being  held  close  to  his 
face.  He  could  see  nothing  but  the  bright  light. 
The  man  holding  it  did  not  speak,  and  presently 
backed  out  again,  bolting  the  door  behind  him. 


426  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

Axel  lay  down,  reflecting  that  such  surprises, 
added  to  anxiety  and  bad  food,  must  wear  out 
a  suspected  culprit's  nerves  with  extraordinary 
rapidity  and  thoroughness.  There  could  not,  he 
thought,  be  much  left  of  a  man  in  the  way  of  brains 
and  calmness  by  the  time  he  was  taken  before  the 
judge  to  clear  himself.  The  incident  completely 
banished  all  tendency  to  sleep.  He  remained 
wide  awake  after  that,  tormented  by  anxious 
thoughts. 

Towards  dawn,  for  which  he  thanked  God  when 
it  came,  the  silence  of  the  prison  was  broken  by 
screams.  He  started  up  again  and  listened,  his 
blood  frozen  by  the  sound  of  them.  They  were 
terrible  to  hear,  echoing  through  that  place. 
Again  a  feeling  of  sheer  horror  came  over  him. 
How  lonor  would  he  be  able  to  endure  these 
things  ?  The  screams  grew  more  and  more  ap- 
palling. He  sprang  up  and  went  to  the  door,  and 
listened  there.  He  thought  he  heard  steps  out- 
side, and  knocked.  "  What  is  that  screaming  ?  " 
he  cried  out.  But  no  one  answered.  The  shrieks 
reached  a  climax  of  anguish,  and  suddenly  stopped. 
Death-like  stillness  fell  again  upon  the  prison. 
Axel  spent  what  was  left  of  the  night  pacing  up 
and  down. 

The  prison  day  did  not  begin  till  six.  Axel, 
used  to  his  busy  country  life  that  got  him  out  of 
his  bed  and  on  to  his  horse  at  four  these  fine  sum- 
mer mornings,  heard  sounds  of  life  below  in  the 
street  —  early  carts  and  voices  —  long  before  life 
stirred  within  the  walls.  He  understood  after- 
wards why  the  inmates  were  allowed  to  lie  in  bed 
so  long :  it  was  convenient  for  the  warders.     The 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  427 

prisoners  rose  at  six,  and  went  to  bed  again  at  six, 
in  the  full  sunshine  of  those  June  afternoons. 
Thus  disposed  of,  the  warders  could  relax  their 
vigilance  and  enjoy  some  hours  of  rest.  The 
effect,  moralising  or  the  reverse,  on  the  prisoners, 
who  could  by  no  means  get  themselves  oft  to  sleep 
at  six  o'clock,  was  of  the  supremest  indifference  to 
everyone  concerned.  Axel,  not  yet  having  been 
tried,  and  not  yet  therefore  having  been  placed  in 
the  common  dormitory,  was  not  forced  into  bed  at 
any  particular  time.  He  might  enjoy  evenings  as 
long  as  those  of  the  warders  if  he  chose,  and  he 
might  get  up  as  early  as  though  his  horse  were 
waiting  below  to  take  him  to  his  hay-fields  if  he 
liked ;  but  this  privilege,  without  the  means  of 
employing  the  extra  hours,  was  valueless.  He 
watched  anxiously  for  the  broad  daylight  that 
would  bring  his  lawyer  and  put  an  end  to  this  first 
martyrdom  of  helpless  waiting.  Towards  seven, 
one  of  the  prisoners,  whose  good  conduct  had 
procured  him  promotion  to  cleaning  the  passages 
and  doing  other  work  of  the  kind,  brought  him 
another  loaf  of  bread  and  a  pot  of  coffee.  From 
this  young  man,  a  white-faced,  artful-looking  youth, 
with  closely-cropped  hair  and  wearing  the  coarse, 
brown  prison  dress.  Axel  heard  that  the  ghastly 
screams  in  the  night  came  from  a  prisoner  who  had 
delirium  tremens ;  he  had  been  put  in  the  cellar 
to  get  over  the  attack ;  he  could  scream  as  loud 
as  he  liked  there,  and  no  one  would  hear  him  ; 
they  always  put  him  in  the  cellar  when  the  attacks 
came  on.  The  young  man  grinned.  Evidently 
he  thought  the  arrangement  both  good  and  funny. 
"  Poor  wretch,"  said  Axel,  profoundly  pitying 


428  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

those  other  wretched  human  beings,  his  fellow- 
prisoners. 

"  Oh,  he  is  very  happy  there.  He  plays  all  day 
long  at  catching  the  rats." 

"  The  rats  ?  " 

"  They  say  there  are  no  rats  —  that  he  only 
thinks  he  sees  them.  But  whether  the  rats  are 
real  or  not  it  amuses  him  trying  to  catch  them. 
When  he  is  quiet  again,  he  is  brought  back  to  us." 

A  warder  appeared  and  said  there  was  too  much 
talking.  The  young  man  slid  away  swiftly  and 
silently.  He  was  a  thief  by  profession,  of  superior 
skill  and  intelligence. 

Axel  ate  part  of  the  bread,  and  succeeded  in 
swallowing  some  of  the  coffee,  and  then  began  his 
walk  again,  up  and  down,  up  and  down,  listening 
intently  at  the  door  each  time  he  came  to  it  for 
sounds  of  his  lawyer's  approach.  The  morning 
must  be  halfway  through,  he  thought;  why  did 
he  not  come  ?  How  could  he  let  him  wait  at  such 
a  crisis  ?  How  could  any  of  them  —  Gustav, 
Trudi,  Manske  —  let  him  wait  at  such  a  crisis.'^ 
He  grew  terribly  anxious.  He  had  expected  Gus- 
tav by  the  first  train  from  Berlin ;  he  might  have 
been  with  him  by  nine  o'clock.  The  other  brother, 
he  knew,  would  be  less  easily  reached  by  the  tele- 
gram —  he  was  attached  to  the  person  of  a  prince 
whose  movements  were  uncertain ;  but  Gustav  ? 
Well,  he  must  be  patient ;  he  may  not  have  been 
at  home ;  the  next  train  arrived  in  the  afternoon ; 
he  would  come  by  that. 

The  door  opened,  and  he  turned  eagerly ;  but 
it  was  the  Public  Prosecutor  again. 

"  Name,   name,   and   crime ! "   frantically  whis- 


THE    BENEFACTRESS  429 

pered  the  accompanying  warder,  as  Axel  stood 
silent.  Axel  repeated  the  formula  of  the  night 
before.  Every  time  these  visits  were  made  he  had 
to  go  through  this  performance,  his  heels  together, 
his  body  rigid. 

"  Bed  not  made,"  said  the  Public  Prosecutor. 

"  Bed  not  made,"  repeated  the  warder,  glaring  at 
Axel. 

"  Make  it,"  ordered  the  chief ;  and  went  out. 

"  Make  it,"  hissed  the  warder  ;  and  followed  him. 

His  lawyer  came  in  simultaneously  with  his 
dinner. 

"  Plate,"  said  the  warder  with  the  pot. 

"  This  is  a  sad  sight,  Herr  von  Lohm,"  said  the 
lawyer. 

"  It  is,"  agreed  Axel,  reaching  down  his  plate. 
He  allowed  some  of  the  mess  to  be  poured  into 
it ;  he  was  not  going  to  starve  only  because  the 
soup  was  potent. 

"  I  expected  you  yesterday,"  he  said  to  the 
lawyer. 

"  Ah  —  I  was  engaged  yesterday." 

The  lawyer's  manner  was  so  peculiar  that  Axel 
stared  at  him,  doubtful  if  he  really  were  the  right 
man.  He  was  a  native  of  Stralsund,  and  Axel  had 
employed  him  ever  since  he  came  into  his  estate, 
and  had  found  his  work  satisfactory,  and  his  man- 
ners exceedingly  polite  —  so  polite,  indeed,  as  to 
verge  on  cringing ;  but  then,  as  Manske  would 
have  pointed  out,  he  was  a  Jew.  Now  the  whole 
man  was  changed.  The  ingratiating  smiles,  the 
bow^s,  the  rubbed  hands,  where  were  they  ?  The 
lawyer  sat  at  his  ease  on  the  one  chair,  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  a  toothpick  in  his  mouth,  and  scru- 


430  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

tinised  Axel  while  he  told  him  his  case,  with  an 
insolent  look  of  incredulity. 

"  He  actually  believes  I  set  the  place  on  fire," 
thought  Axel,  struck  by  the  look. 

He  did  actually  believe  it.  He  always  believed 
the  worst,  for  his  experience  had  been  that  the 
worst  is  what  comes  most  often  nearest  the  truth ; 
but  then,  as  Manske  would  have  explained,  he  was 
a  Jew. 

The  interview  was  extremely  unsatisfactory.  "  I 
have  an  appointment,"  said  the  lawyer,  pulling  out 
his  watch  before  they  had  half  discussed  the  situa- 
tion. 

"  You  appear  to  forget  that  this  is  a  matter  of 
enormous  importance  to  me,"  said  Axel,  wrath  in 
his  eyes  and  voice. 

"  That  is  what  each  of  my  clients  invariably 
says,"  replied  the  lawyer,  stretching  across  the 
table  for  his  gloves. 

"  How  can  we  arrange  anything  in  a  ten  min- 
utes' conversation  ?  "  inquired  Axel  indignantly. 

The  lawyer  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  I  cannot 
neglect  all  my  other  business." 

"  I  do  not  remember  your  having  been  so  pressed 
for  time  formerly.  I  shall  expect  you  again  this 
afternoon." 

"  An  impossibility." 

"  Then  to-morrow  the  first  thing.  That  is,  if  I 
am  still  here." 

The  lawyer  grinned.  "  It  is  not  so  easy  to  get 
out  of  these  places  as  it  is  to  get  in,"  he  said,  draw- 
ing on  his  gloves.  "  By  the  way,  my  fees  in  such 
cases  are  payable  beforehand." 

Axel  flushed.     He  could  hardly  believe  the  evi- 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  431 

dence  of  his  senses  that  this  was  the  obsequious 
person  who  had  for  so  long  managed  his  affairs. 
"  My  brother  Gustav  will  arrange  all  that,"  he  said 
stiffly.  "  You  know  I  can  do  nothing  here.  He 
is  coming  this  afternoon." 

"  Oh,  is  he  ?  "  said  the  lawyer  sceptically.  "  Is 
he  indeed,  now  ?  That  will  be  a  remarkable  in- 
stance of  brotherly  devotion.  I  am  truly  glad  to 
hear  that.  Good-afternoon,"  he  nodded  ;  and  went 
out,  leaving  Axel  in  a  fury. 

The  one  good  result  of  his  visit  was  that  some 
time  later  Axel  was  provided  with  writing  mate- 
rials. He  immediately  fell  to  writing  letters  and 
telegrams ;  urgent  letters  and  telegrams,  of  a  des- 
perate importance  to  himself.  When  his  coffee 
was  brought  he  gave  them  to  the  warder,  and 
begged  him  to  see  that  they  were  despatched  at 
once ;  then  he  paced  up  and  down  again,  relieved 
at  least  by  feeling  that  he  could  now  communicate 
with  the  outer  world. 

"  They  have  gone  ?  "  he  asked  anxiously,  next 
time  he  saw  the  warder.  '' Jawohr,'  was  the  reply. 
And  gone  they  had,  but  only  by  slow  stages  to  the 
office  of  the  Examining  Judge  Schultz,  w^here  they 
lay  in  a  heap  waiting  till  he  should  have  leisure 
and  inclination  to  read  them,  and,  if  he  approved 
of  their  contents,  order  them  to  be  posted.  There 
they  lay  for  three  days,  and  most  of  them  were  not 
passed  after  all,  because  the  Examining  Judge  dis- 
liked the  tone  of  the  assurances  in  them  that  the 
writer  was  innocent.  He  knew  that  trick ;  every 
prisoner  invariably  protested  the  same  thing.  But 
these  protestations  were  unusually  strong.  They 
were  of  such  strength  that  they  actually  produced 


432  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

in  his  own  hardened  and  experienced  mind  a  pass- 
ing doubt,  absurd  of  course,  and  not  for  one  mo- 
ment to  be  considered,  whether  the  Stralsund 
authorities  might  not  have  blundered.  It  was  a 
dangerous  notion  to  put  into  people's  heads,  that 
the  Stralsund  authorities,  of  whom  he  was  one, 
could  blunder.  Blunders  meant  a  reproof  from 
headquarters  and  a  retarded  career;  their  possi- 
bility, therefore,  was  not  to  be  entertained  for  a 
moment.  Even  should  they  have  been  made,  it 
must  not  get  about  that  they  had  been  made.  He 
accordingly  suppressed  nearly  all  the  letters. 

Gustav  must  have  missed  the  second  train  as 
well,  for  when  the  sky  grew  rosy,  and  Axel  knew 
that  the  sun  was  setting,  he  was  still  alone. 

The  few  hours  he  had  thought  to  stay  in  that 
place  were  lengthening  out  into  days,  he  reflected. 
If  Gustav  did  not  come  soon,  what  should  he  do  ? 
Someone  he  must  have  to  look  after  his  affairs,  to 
arrange  with  the  lawyer,  to  be  a  link  connecting 
him  with  outside.  And  who  but  his  brother  and 
heir?  Still,  he  would  certainly  come  soon,  and 
Trudi  too.  Poor  little  Trudi  —  he  was  afraid  she 
would  be  terribly  upset. 

But  the  hours  passed,  and  no  one  came. 

That  evening  he  was  given  a  lamp.  It  burnt 
badly  and  smelt  atrociously.  He  asked  if  the  win- 
dow might  be  opened  a  little  wider.  The  request 
had  to  be  made  in  writing,  said  the  warder,  and 
submitted  through  the  usual  channels  to  the  Public 
Prosecutor,  without  whose  permission  no  window 
might  be  touched.  Axel  wrote  the  request,  and 
the  warder  took  it  away.  It  came  back  two  days 
later  with  an  intimation  scrawled  across  it  that  if 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  433 

the  prisoner  von  Lohm  were  not   satisfied  with 
his  cell  he  would  be  given  a  worse  one. 

The  night  came,  and  had  to  be  gone  through 
somehow.  Axel  sat  for  hours  on  the  side  of  his 
bed,  his  head  supported  in  his  hands,  struggling 
with  despair.  A  profound  gloom  was  settling 
down  on  him.  The  knowledge  that  he  had  done 
nothing  had  ceased  to  reassure  him.  The  lawyer 
was  right  w^hen  he  said  that  it  was  easier  to  get 
into  such  a  place  than  to  get  out  again.  Klutz 
had  denounced  him,  to  save  himself ;  of  that  he 
had  not  a  doubt.  And  Dellwig,  well  known  and 
greatly  respected,  had  supported  Klutz.  This 
explained  Dellwig's  conduct  lately  completely. 
Axels  courage  was  perilously  near  giving  way  as 
he  recognised  the  difficulty  he  would  have  in 
proving  that  he  was  innocent.  If  no  one  helped 
him  from  outside,  his  case  was  indeed  desperate. 
He  did  not  remember  ever  to  have  turned  his 
back  on  a  friend  in  distress  ;  how  was  it,  then, 
that  not  a  friend  was  to  be  found  to  come  to  him 
in  his  extremity  ?  Where  were  they  all,  those 
jovial  companions  who  shot  over  his  estate  with 
him  so  often,  driving  any  distance  for  the  pleas- 
ure of  killing  his  game.^^  What  was  keeping 
Gustav  back.f*  Why  did  he  not  even  send  a 
message  .f^  How  was  it  that  Manske,  who  pro- 
fessed so  much  attachment  to  his  house,  besides 
such  stores  of  Christian  charitv,  did  not  make  an 
effort  to  reach  him  ?  He  had  never  asked  or 
wanted  anything  of  anyone  in  his  life ;  but  this 
was  so  terrible,  his  need  was  so  extreme.  What 
a  failure  his  w^hole  life  was.  He  had  been  alone, 
always.      During  all  the  years  when  other  men 

2F 


434  THE  BENEFACTRESS 

have  wives  and  children  he  had  been  working  hari 
alone.  He  had  had  no  happy  days,  as  the  old 
Romans  would  have  said.  And  now  total  ruin 
was  upon  him.  Sitting  there  through  the  night, 
he  began  to  understand  the  despair  that  impels 
unhappy  beings  in  a  like  situation,  forsaken  of 
God  and  men,  to  make  wild  efforts  to  get  out  of 
such  places,  conscious  that  they  avail  nothing, 
but  at  least  bruising  and  crushing  themselves  into 
the  blessed  indifference  of  exhaustion. 

The  hours  dragged  by,  each  one  a  lifetime,  each 
one  so  packed  with  opportunities  for  going  mad, 
he   thought,  as    he  counted  how  many  of  them 
separated  him  already  from  his  free,  honourable 
past   life.       By   the   time  morning    came,  added 
to   his   other   torturing    anxieties,    was    the   fear 
lest  he  should   fall  ill  in  there  before  any  steps 
had  been  taken  for  his  release.     He  sat  leaning 
his  head    against   the    wall,  indifferent    to    what 
went  on  around  him,  hardly  listening  any  more 
for  Gustav's  footsteps.     He  had  ceased  to  expect 
him.      He  had  ceased    to    expect   anyone.      He 
sat   motionless,   suffering  bodily    now,  a  strange 
feeling  in  his  head,  his  thoughts  dwelling  dully  on 
his  physical  discomforts,  on  the  closeness  of  the 
cell,  on  the  horrible   nights.     He  made  a  great 
effort  to  eat  some  dinner,  but  could  not.     What 
would  become  of  him  if  he  could  neither  eat  nor 
sleep?     On  what  stores  of  energy  would  he  be 
able  to  draw  when  the  time  came  for  defending 
himself?     He  was   sitting  by  the    table,  leaning 
his  head  against  the  wall,  his  eyes  closed,  when 
the  prisoner-attendant  came  to  take  away  his  din- 
ner.    "  111  ? "  inquired  the  young  man  cheerfully. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  435 

Axel  did  not  move  or  answer.     It  was  too  much 
trouble  to  speak. 

The  warder,  upon  the  attendant's  remarking 
that  No.  32  seemed  unwell,  examined  him  through 
the  peep-hole  in  the  door,  but  decided  that  he  was 
not  ill  yet ;  not  ill  enough,  that  is.  In  another 
week  he  would  be  ready  for  the  prison  doctor, 
but  not  yet.  These  things  must  take  their  course. 
It  was  always  the  same  course ;  he  had  been  a 
warder  twenty  years,  and  knew  almost  to  an  hour 
the  date  on  which,  after  the  arrest,  the  doctor 
would  be  required. 

Axel  was  sitting  in  the  same  position  when, 
about  three  o'clock,  the  door  was  unlocked  again. 
He  did  not  move  or  open  his  eyes. 

"  Ihr  Fraulein  Braut  ist  /iter,''  said  the  warder. 

The  word  Braut,  betrothed,  sent  Axel's  thoughts 
back  across  the  years  to  Hildegard.  His  be- 
trothed }  Had  he  heard  the  mocking  words,  or 
had  he  been  dreaming  1  He  turned  his  head  and 
looked  vaguely  towards  the  door.  All  the  sun- 
light was  out  there  in  the  wide  corridor,  and  in 
it,  on  the  threshold,  stood  Anna. 

What  had  she  meant  to  say  ?  She  never  could 
remember.  It  had  been  something  deeply  apolo- 
getic, ashamed.  But  her  fears  and  her  shame  fell 
from  her  like  a  garment  when  she  saw  him.    "  Oh, 

poor  Axel  —  oh,  poor  Axel "  she  murmured 

with  a  quick  sob. 

He  tried  to  get  up  to  come  to  her.  In  an  in- 
stant she  was  at  his  side,  and,  stumbling,  he  fell 
on  his  knees,  holding  her  by  the  dress,  clinging 
to  her  as  to  his  salvation.  "  It  is  not  pity,  Anna  ? " 
he  asked  in  a  voice  sharp  with  an  intolerable  fear. 


436  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

And  Anna,  half  blinded  by  her  tears,  delib- 
erately put  her  arms  round  his  neck,  relinquishing 
by  that  one  action  herself  and  her  future  entirely 
to  him,  hauling  down  for  ever  her  flag  of  inde- 
pendent womanhood,  and  bending  down  her  face 
to  that  upturned  face  of  agonised  questioning 
laid  her  lips  on  his.  "  No,"  she  whispered,  and 
she  kissed  him  with  a  passionate  tenderness  be- 
tween the  words,  "  it  is  only  love  —  only  love " 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

There  was  a  grave  beauty,  an  austerity  almost, 
about  this  betrothal  in  the  prison.     Here  was  no 
room  for  the  archnesses  and  coynesses  of  ordinary 
lovemaking.     All  that  was  not  simple  truth  fell 
away  from  them  both  like  tawdry  ornaments,  for 
which  there  was  no  use  in  that  sad  place.    Soul  to 
soul,  unseparated    by  even    the    flimsiest  veil  of 
conventionality,  of   custom;    soul  to  soul,   clear- 
visioned,   steadfast,    as    those    may   be   who    are 
quietly   watching    the    approach    of   death,    they 
looked  into  each  other's  eyes  and  knew  that  they 
were  alone,  he  and  she,   against  the  world.     To 
cleave  to  one  another,  to  stand  together,  he  and 
she,  against   the  whole    world,  —  that  was   what 
their  betrothal  meant.      Axel,  cut  off  for  ever  from 
his  kind  if  he  should  not  be  able  to  clear  himself, 
Anna,  cutting  herself  off  for  ever  to  follow  him. 
Her  feet  had  found  the  right  path  at  last.     Her 
eyes  were  open.     As  two  friends  on  the  eve  of 
a  battle  in   which   both    must  fight   and  whose 
end   may   be   death,    or  as    two  friends  starting 
on   a   long   journey,    whose    end    too,    after   tor- 
tuous   ways    of    suffering,    may    well    be    death, 
they  quietly  made  their  plans,  talked  oyer  what 
was  best  to  be  done,  gravely  encouraging  each 
other,    always   with    the    light    of    perfect    trust- 
fulness in  their  eyes.     How  strong  they  felt  to- 
gether!    How  able  to  go  fearlessly  towards  the 

437 


438  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

future  to  meet  any  pain,  any  sorrow,  together ! 
The  warder  standing  by,  the  miserable  little  room, 
the  wretched  details  of  the  situation,  no  longer 
existed  for  either  of  them.  Nothing  could  harm 
them,  nothing  could  hurt  them  any  more,  if  only 
they  might  be  together.  They  were  safe  within 
a  circle  drawn  round  them  by  love  —  safe,  and 
warm,  and  blest.  So  long  as  he  had  her  and  she 
him,  though  they  saw  how  great  their  misery 
would  be  if  they  came  to  be  less  brave,  they  could 
not  but  believe  in  the  benevolence  of  the  future, 
they  could  not  but  have  hope.  If  he  were  sen- 
tenced, she  said,  what,  at  the  worst,  would  it  mean  ? 
Two  years',  three  years',  waiting,  and  then  together 
for  the  rest  of  their  life.  Was  not  that  worth  look- 
ing forward  to  ?  Would  not  that  take  away  every 
sting  ?  she  asked,  her  hands  on  his  shoulders,  her 
face  beautiful  with  confidence  and  courage.  When 
he  told  her  that  she  ought  not  now  to  cast  In  her 
lot  with  his,  she  only  smiled,  and  laid  her  cheek 
against  his  sleeve.  All  her  childish  follies,  and 
incertitudes,  and  false  starts  were  done  with  now. 
Life  had  grown  suddenly  simple.  It  was  to  be  a 
cleaving  to  him  till  death.  Yet  they  both  knew 
that  when  that  golden  hour  was  over,  and  she 
must  go,  the  suffering  would  begin  again.  She 
was  only  to  come  twice  a  week ;  and  the  days  be- 
tween would  be  days  of  torture.  And  when  the 
moment  had  come,  and  they  had  said  good-bye 
with  brave  eyes,  each  telling  the  other  that  so 
short  a  separation  was  nothing,  that  they  did  not 
mind  it,  that  it  would  be  over  before  they  had  had 
time  to  feel  it,  and  the  door  was  shut,  and  he  was 
left  behind,  she  went  out  to  find   misery  again, 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  439 

waiting  for  her  there  where  she  had  left  it,  taking 
entire  possession  of  her,  brooding  heavily,  im- 
movably over  her,  a  desolation  of  misery  that 
threatened  by  its  dreadful  weight  to  break  her 
heart. 

A  sense  of  physical  cold  crept  over  her  as  she 
drove  home  with  Letty  —  the  bodily  expression 
of  the  unutterable  forlornness  within.  Away 
from  him,  how  weak  she  was,  how  unable  to  be 
brave.  Would  Letty  understand  ?  Would  she 
say  some  kind  word,  some  little  word,  something, 
anything,  that  might  make  her  feel  less  terribly 
alone  .f^  With  many  pauses  and  falterings  she 
told  her  the  story,  looking  at  her  with  eyes  tor- 
tured by  the  thought  of  him  waiting  so  patiently 
there  till  she  should  come  again.  Letty  was  awe- 
struck, as  much  by  the  profound  grief  of  Anna's 
face  as  by  the  revelation.  She  knew  of  course 
that  Axel  had  been  arrested  —  did  anyone  at 
Kleinwalde  talk  of  anything  else  all  day  long  ?  — 
but  she  had  not  dreamt  of  this.  She  could  find 
nothing  to  say,  and  put  out  her  hand  timidly  and 
laid  it  on  Anna's.  "  I  am  so  cold,"  was  all  Anna 
said,  her  head  drooping;  and  she  did  not  speak 
again. 

As  they  passed  between  his  fields,  by  his  open 
gate,  through  the  village  that  belonged,  all  of  it, 
to  him,  she  shut  her  eyes.  She  could  not  look  at 
the  happy  summer  fields,  at  the  placid  faces, 
knowing  him  where  he  was.  Not  the  poorest  of 
his  servants,  not  a  ragged  child  rolling  in  the 
dust,  not  a  wretched,  half-starved  dog  sunning 
itself  in  a  doorway,  whose  lot  was  not  blessed 
compared  to  his.     The  haymakers  were  piling  up 


440  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

his  hay  on  the  waggons.  Girls  in  white  sun-bon- 
nets, with  bare  arms  and  legs,  stood  on  the  top  of 
the  loads  catching  the  fragrant  stuff  as  the  men 
tossed  it  up.  Their  figures  were  sharply  outlined 
against  the  serene  sky ;  their  shouts  and  laughter 
floated  across  the  fields.  Freedom  to  come  and 
go  at  will  in  God's  liberal  sunlight  —  just  that  — 
how  precious  it  was,  how  unspeakably  precious 
it  was.  Of  all  God's  gifts,  surely  the  most  pre- 
cious. And  how  ordinary,  how  universal.  Only 
for  Axel  there  was  none. 

When  they  reached  the  house,  the  hall  seemed 
to  be  full  of  people.  The  supper  bell  had  lately 
rung,  and  the  inmates,  talking  and  laughing,  were 
going  into  the  dining-room.  Dellwig,  his  hands 
full  of  papers,  not  having  found  Anna  at  home, 
was  in  the  act  of  making  elaborate  farewell  bows 
to  the  assembled  ladies.  After  the  two  silent 
hours  of  suffering  that  lay  between  herself  and 
Axel,  how  strange  it  was,  this  noisy  bustle  of  daily 
life.  She  caught  fragments  of  what  they  were 
saying,  fragments  of  the  usual  prattle,  the  same 
nothings  that  they  said  every  day,  accompanied 
by  the  same  vague  laughs.  How  strange  it  was, 
and  how  awful,  the  tremendousness  of  life,  the 
nearness  of  death,  the  absolute  relentlessness  of 
suffering,  and  all  the  prattle. 

"  Um  Gottes  Willen!  "  shrieked  Frau  von  Treu- 
mann,  when  she  caught  sight  of  this  white  image 
of  grief  set  suddenly  in  their  midst.  "  It  has 
smashed  up,  then,  your  bank .?  "  And  she  made 
a  hasty  movement  towards  the  hall  table,  on  which 
lay  a  letter  for  Anna  from  Karlchen,  containing, 
as  she  knew,  an  offer  of  marriage. 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  44i 

Anna  turned  with  a  blind  sort  of  movement, 
and  stretched  out  her  hand  for  Letty,  drawing 
her  to  her  side,  instinctively  seeking  any  comfort, 
any  support ;  and  she  stood  a  moment  clinging  to 
her,  gazing  at  the  little  crowd  with  sombre,  unsee- 
ing eyes. 

"  What  has  happened,  Anna  ?  "  asked  the  prin- 
cess uneasily. 

"  You  must  congratulate  me,"  said  Anna  slowly 
in  German,  her  head  held  very  high,  her  face  of  a 
deathly  whiteness. 

A  lightening  look  of  comprehension  flashed  into 
Dellwig's  eyes ;  he  scarcely  needed  to  hear  the 
words  that  came  next. 

"  Herr  von  Lohm  and  I  were  betrothed  to-day," 
she  said.  Then  she  looked  round  at  them  with  a 
vague,  piteous  look,  and  put  her  hand  up  to  her 
throat.  "  We  shall  be  married  —  we  shall  be 
married — when  —  when  it  pleases  God." 


CONCLUSION 

The  moral  of  this  story,  as  Manske,  wise  after 
the  event,  pointed  out  when  relating  those  parts  of 
it  that  he  knew  on  winter  evenings  to  a  dear  friend, 
plainly  is  that  all  females  —  alle  Weiber  —  are  best 
married.  "  Their  aspirations,"  he  said,  "  may  be 
high  enough  to  do  credit  to  the  noblest  male  spirit; 
indeed,  our  gracious  lady's  aspirations  were  nobil- 
ity itself.  But  the  flesh  of  females  is  very  weak. 
It  cannot  stand  alone.  It  cannot  realise  the  aspi- 
rations formed  by  its  own  spirit.  It  requires  con- 
stant guidance.  It  is  an  excellent  material,  but  it 
is  only  material  in  the  raw." 

"  What }  "  cried  his  wife. 

"  Peace,  woman.  I  say  it  is  only  material  in 
the  raw.  And  it  is  never  of  any  practical  use 
till  the  hand  of  the  master  has  moulded  it  into 
shape." 

"  Sehr  richtig^'  agreed  the  friend  ;  with  the  more 
heartiness  that  he  was  conscious  of  a  wife  at  home 
who  had  successfully  withstood  moulding  during  a 
married  life  of  twenty  years. 

"  That,"  said  Manske,  "  is  the  most  obvious 
moral.     But  there  is  yet  another." 

"  The  story  is  full  of  them,"  said  the  friend,  who 
had  had  them  all  pointed  out  to  him,  different  ones 
each  time,  during  those  evenings  of  howling  tem- 
pests and  indoor  peace  —  the  perfect  peace  of 
pipes,  hot  stoves,  and   Gluhwein, 

442 


THE   BENEFACTRESS  443 

"  The  other,"  said  Manske,  "  is,  that  it  is  very 
sinful  for  little  girls  to  write  love-poetry  in  the 
name  of  their  aunts." 

"  To  write  love-poetry  is  at  no  time  the  function 
of  little  girls,"  said  the  friend. 

"Such  conduct  cannot  be  too  strongly  cen- 
sured," said  Manske.  "  But  to  do  it  in  the  name 
of  someone  else  is  not  only  not  madcherihaft^  it 
is  sinful." 

"  These  English  little  girls  appear  to  know  no 
shame,"  said  his  wife. 

"  Truly  they  might  learn  much  from  our  own 
female  youth,"  said  the  friend. 

Letty's  poems  had  undoubtedly  been  the  in- 
direct cause  of  the  fire,  of  Axel's  arrest,  and  of 
his  marriage  with  Anna.  But  if  they  had  brought 
about  Anna's  happiness,  a  happiness  more  com- 
plete and  perfect  than  any  of  which  she  had 
dreamed,  they  had  also  brought  about  Klutz's 
ruin.  For  Klutz,  shattered  in  nerves,  weak  of 
will,  overcome  by  the  state  of  his  conscience  and 
the  possible  terrors  of  the  next  world,  with  the 
blood  of  three  generations  of  pastors  in  his  veins, 
every  drop  of  which  cried  out  to  him  day  and 
night  to  save  his  soul  at  least,  whatever  became 
of  his  body.  Klutz  had  confessed.  He  was  only 
twenty,  he  knew  himself  to  be  really  harmless,  he 
had  never  had  any  intentions  worse  than  foolish, 
and  here  he  was,  ruined.  The  act  had  been  an 
act  of  temporary  madness ;  and  influenced  by 
Dellwig,  he  had  saved  his  skin  afterwards  as  best 
he  could.  Now  there  was  the  price  to  pay,  the 
heavy  price,  so  tremendous  when  compared  to  the 
smallness  of  the  follies  that  had  led  him  on  step 


444  THE   BENEFACTRESS 

by  step.  His  bad  gefiius,  Dellwig,  went  free;  and 
later  on  lived  sufficiently  far  away  from  Klein- 
walde  to  be  greatly  respected  to  the  end  of  his 
days.  Manske's  eyes  filled  with  tears  when  he 
came  to  the  action  of  Providence  in  this  matter 
—  the  mysteriousness  of  it,  the  utter  inscrutable- 
ness  of  it,  letting  the  morally  responsible  go  un- 
punished, and  allowing  the  poor  young  vicar, 
handicapped  from  his  very  entrance  into  the  world 
by  his  weakness  of  character,  to  be  overtaken  on 
the  threshold  of  life  by  so  terrific  a  fate.  "  Truly 
the  ways  of  Providence  are  past  finding  out,"  said 
Manske,  sorrowfully  shaking  his  head. 

"  I  never  did  believe  in  Klutz,"  said  his  wife, 
thinking  of  her  apple  jelly. 

"  Woman,  kick  not  him  who  is  down,"  said  her 
husband,  turning  on  her  with  reproachful  stern- 
ness. 

"  Kick ! "  echoed  his  wife,  tossing  her  head  at 
this  rebuke,  administered  in  the  presence  of  the 
friend ;  "  I  am  not,  I  hope,  so  unwomanly  as  to 
kick." 

"  It  is  a  figure  of  speech,"  mildly  explained  the 
friend. 

"  I  like  it  not,"  said  Frau  Manske  gloomily. 

"  Peace,"  said  her  husband. 


Printed  iii  liie  United  States  of  America. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

Elizabeth  and  Her  German  Garden 


Illustrated  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    Cloth  extra.    $2.50 
Regular  Edition.    Crown  8vo.    Cloth.    $1.75 
Cheap  Edition.    i6mo.    Cloth.    50  cents 


A  new  edition,  containing  considerable  matter  not  included 
in  the  original  issue,  and  illustrated  with  a  large  number  of 
full-page  photogravure  plates. 

These  illustrations  are  from  photographs  taken  in  and  about 
the  garden,  and  will  be  found  to  form  a  most  interesting  and 
valuable  accompaniment  to  the  text. 


"What  a  captivating  book  it  is  —  how  merry  and  gentle  and 
sunny,  how  whimsically  wise  and  tender  !  There  is  real  humor  in 
these  pages,  and  for  that  reason,  if  for  no  other,  it  deserves  to  live. 
The  new  chapter,  describing  the  author's  pious  pilgrimage  to  the 
garden  of  her  childhood,  is  inimitable  in  its  way,  and  should  not  be 
missed  by  any  admirer  of  this  most  winning  Elizabeth." 

—  New  York  Tribune. 

"  EHzabeth  is  pure  sunshine  and  without  a  shadow,  the  reflection, 
as  it  were,  of  a  quiet  existence,  and  never  a  commonplace  one  ;  for, 
without  knowing  it  or  suspecting  it,  she  is  an  idealist.  Elizabeth 
never  tires,  for  has  she  not  her  husband,  her  little  ones,  and  her 
books  to  talk  about?  These  passages,  as  found  in  'Elizabeth'  in 
the  quiet  history  of  a  woman's  life,  act  as  useful  tonics  or  are  the 
necessary  sedatives  in  our  somewhat  fevered  existence." 

—  New  York  Times, 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


The  Solitary  Summer 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
"ELIZABETH  AND   HER   GERMAN    GARDEN,"  ETC. 


Illustrated  Edition.      Crown  8vo.      Cloth  extra.      $2.50 
Regular  Edition.      Crown  8vo.      Cloth.      $1.50 


" '  The  Solitary  Summer  ^  affords  a  generous  harvest  of  beautiful 
and  poetic  thoughts,  together  with  some  keen  observations  of  life, 
all  of  which  are  expressed  in  a  graceful  and  supple  prose.  ...  It 
is  a  privilege  to  have  stood  for  a  time  upon  the  veranda  steps  and 
to  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  that  sane  refuge."  —  Chicago  Tribune. 

"  Full  of  sunshine  and  fresh  breezes,  riotous  with  the  bloom  and 
fragrance  of  flowers,  spicy  with  the  damp  cool  breath  of  pines.  .  .  . 
The  quaint,  whimsical  fancies  of  a  cultivated,  lovable  woman  create 
a  golden  atmosphere  through  which  we  see  her  life,  and  we  dream 
with  her  on  her  bench  in  her  garden,  in  the  fields  where  the  yellow 
/upins  grow,  and  in  the  mossy  deeps  of  the  pine  forest.  We  feel 
we  have  made  another  friend,  one  who  sees  hfe  with  gentle,  smiling 
eyes  and  from  a  deliciously  humorous  point  of  view."  —  Recreation. 

"  A  garden  of  absorbing  interest  to  its  owner,  a  library  full  of  books 
to  comfort  rainy  days,  a  hamlet  of  German  peasants,  three  delightful 
babies,  and  a  'man  of  wrath'  who  by  no  means  merits  the  title, — 
these  are  the  simple  elements  from  which  a  bright  woman,  too  cos- 
mopolitan to  be  thou2;ht  wholly  German,  as  she  calls  herself,  has 
evolved  a  charming  little  book.'"—  The  Nation. 

"  She  has  a  depth  of  feeling,  a  sense  of  humor,  and  an  impetuous 
and  ardent  manner  that  make  her  chronicles  thoroughly  alive. 
Beside  this  lovable  book  other  feminine  essays  on  nature,  literature, 
and  life  seem  only  tame  and  artificial  performances." 

—  New  York  Tribune,. 


THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66  FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


The  April  Baby's  Book  of  Tunes 

WITH  THE  STORY  OF  HOW  THEY  CAME  TO  BE  WRITTEN 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
"ELIZABETH  AND  HER  GERMAN  GARDEN" 

Illustrated  by  KATE  GREENAWAY 
Cloth.    Small  4to.    $1.50, 


A  running  commentary  in  the  quaintly  humorous  style  character- 
istic of  the  writer,  describes  the  teaching  of  a  dozen  or  more  popular 
nursery  songs  to  the  author^s  three  little  maids,  the  April,  May,  and 
June  Baby  respectively.  The  music  for  each  is  given,  and  charming 
illustrations  in  color  complete  an  unusually  attractive  holiday  book. 

Full  of  the  sayings  of  three  of  the  most  delightfully  amusing  and 
original  children  in  the  book  world  —  the  June  Baby  who  loudly 
sings  "  The  King  of  Love  My  Shepherd  is,"  swinging  her  kitten 
around  by  its  tail  to  emphasize  the  rhythm,  —  the  loving  little  May 
Baby  who  says,  "  Directly  you  comes  home,  the  fun  begins,"  sitting 
very  close  to  her  mother,  —  and  the  quaint  April  Baby,  concerning 
whom  there  are  fears  that  she  may  turn  out  a  genius  and  thus  dis- 
grace her  parents,  Elizabeth  and  "  The  Man  of  Wrath." 

Readers  of  the  charming  companion  volumes  whose  authorship 
has  been  the  subject  of  so  much  recent  discussion  will  delight  in  this 
little  sequel,  which  will  make  a  most  appropriate  gift  during  the 
coming  season  to  many  a  mother  of  little  ones  who  has  had  at  some 
time  to  meet  the  problem  of  how  the  babies  can  be  saved  from 
corners  when  there  are  no  lessons,  and  storms  have  forbidden  exer- 
cise for  them  and  their  nurses,  too.  Its  pictures  of  a  German  nurs- 
ery and  the  delicious  discussions  of  these  toddlers  over  the  various 
songs  are  extremely  bright  and  entertaining,  and  most  aptly  supple- 
mented by  Kate  Greenaway's  quaint  and  daintily  colored  illustra- 
tions, of  which  there  are  sixteen,  besides  decorative  designs,  chapter 
headings,  etc. 

THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,   NEW   YORK 


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